Nigeria adopted its most recent National Action Plan (NAP) in 2017 for the period 2017-2020. The NAP was developed by the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development with the support of the Nigerian Stability Reconciliation Programme (NSRP), the European Union, and UN Women. The NAP’s objectives are compiled under five overarching thematic pillars: prevention and disaster preparedness; participation and representation; protection and prosecution; crisis management, early recovery, and post-conflict reconstruction; and partnerships, coordination, and management. The strategic objectives have corresponding actions, outcomes, indicators, target completion timeframes, and lead actors. Nevertheless, the NAP does not include an allocated budget.
Nigeria’s most recent NAP is preceded by one other NAP, adopted in 2013 and implemented for the period 2013-2017. In the course of implementing the first NAP, several gaps were observed and formed the basis, among other reasons, to review the plan in order to incorporate emerging issues in Nigeria (i.e., non-inclusion of violent extremism and limited consideration of post-conflict and reintegration issues), as well as address the gaps identified (i.e., absence of crisis management and recovery strategies, ambiguous language and inadequate monitoring and evaluation architecture).
Nigeria reported on the implementation of its NAP, as well as WPS commitments, in its national reporting for Beijing+25 and in preparation for CSW64 (2020). Specifically, the country indicated that there has been inclusion of women in councils of traditional rulers and periodic gender training for security sector agencies; the social investment budget has been formally introduced into the government budget; and there has been a marginal upsurge in women’s political participation (p. 14).
Nigeria gained independence in 1960 from the United Kingdom, after decades of colonial rule by the British empire. Between 1967 and 1970, Nigeria experienced a civil war, which was preceded by a history of military coups. Most recently, since 2009, the conflict in the country’s northeast caused by Boko Haram has resulted in an upsurge in violence against women and girls, manifesting itself in the form of systematic abductions. Specifically, following the abductions in 2014, international security meetings on countering Boko Haram were held in London and Paris but failed to include Nigerian women’s civil society organisations.
At the multilateral level, Nigeria most recently served as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the period 2014-2015.