Kano, Nigeria | 2025
On 28 May 2015, Nigeria signs into law the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Act, establishing a national legal framework to prevent violence, protect survivors, and hold perpetrators accountable.
Ten years later, that promise remains unrealised for millions of women and girls.
While most states move to domesticate and operationalise the VAPP Act, Kano State remains the only state yet to fully pass its domesticated VAPP Law, despite recording one of the highest burdens of reported and unreported sexual and gender-based violence in Nigeria.
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A Persistent Protection Gap
Kano State is home to over 20 million people across 44 local government areas, yet operates only one Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) to serve the entire state. Survivors face significant barriers to accessing medical care, psychosocial support, legal redress, and safety.
Underreporting, stigma, community pressure, and prolonged justice processes continue to conceal the scale of violence, while fragmented institutional coordination undermines accountability.
Although key VAPP provisions are harmonised into the Kano State Penal Code Amendment Bill (2021), the Bill remains pending. As a result, survivors navigate a system where protection is inconsistent and enforcement remains uncertain.
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From Legal Commitments to Lived Reality
Over the past six years, our sustained advocacy directly drives progress in Kano’s gender justice reform landscape. Through continuous engagement with communities, traditional institutions, and government stakeholders between 2019 and 2024, we lead the harmonisation of VAPP provisions into the Kano State Penal Code Amendment Bill (2021).
This work demonstrates a clear reality: recognition exists, but implementation remains the defining challenge. The current moment demands focused leadership to move from legal intent to enforceable protection.
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Introducing the Kano Gender Justice Summit
In response to these realities, we will convene the Kano Gender Justice Summit to advance coordinated, institution-led reform.
The Summit brings together government institutions, justice and security agencies, traditional and religious leaders, youth networks, survivor advocates, and the media to confront the structural barriers undermining protection and accountability in Kano State.
This convening is not ceremonial. It is a reform-oriented process designed to align institutions, strengthen justice pathways, and advance survivor-centred protection systems.
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What the Summit Seeks to Achieve
Through the Kano Gender Justice Summit, we aim to:
• advance the passage and implementation of the Kano State Penal Code Amendment Bill containing harmonised VAPP provisions
• strengthen survivor-centred justice pathways across security, health, and judicial institutions
• expand access to Sexual Assault Referral Centre services across emirate councils
• address emerging forms of violence, including digital and technology-facilitated abuse
• strengthen child protection and safe school systems
• promote disability-inclusive protection frameworks
• improve coordination and accountability across institutions
A core outcome of the Summit is the launch of the Kano Community Declaration for Protection & Justice — a stakeholder accountability framework committing institutions to defined actions, timelines, and follow-up mechanisms.
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Why This Moment Matters
The gap between national legal commitments and lived realities continues to leave survivors without consistent protection. Slow reform fuels low reporting, weak conviction rates, and sustained community pressure that discourages justice-seeking.
This Summit represents a critical opportunity to consolidate political will, institutional responsibility, and community leadership around a shared objective: building a survivor-centred protection system that works.
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Our Commitment
We remain committed to advancing a systems-based approach to gender justice grounded in legal reform, institutional accountability, and community ownership.
By convening the Kano Gender Justice Summit, we reaffirm our commitment to ensuring that the protections promised under the VAPP Act are not symbolic, but real, enforceable, and accessible to every woman, girl, and child in Kano State.