Abuja: The Strengthening Peace and Resilience in Nigeria (SPRiNG) Programme has deepened collaboration with the National Judicial Institute (NJI) to advance Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) principles across Nigeria’s justice sector. Dr. Ukoha Ukiwo, Team Lead of the Tetra Tech SPRiNG Programme, disclosed this at a Capacity Strengthening Workshop on the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda with judicial stakeholders in Abuja.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, the SPRiNG programme, funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), in collaboration with NJI, supported the capacity-strengthening engagement. Dr. Ukiwo emphasized that the adoption of Nigeria’s Third National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security (NAP III) presented a timely opportunity to institutionalize WPS norms within judicial processes to enhance justice. He noted the importance of access to justice and expressed satisfaction with the opportunity to work with key actors in the justice sector to embed WPS principles.
Dr. Ukiwo highlighted the NJI’s significant role in research, training, and development of justice officers, stating that the initiative marks a starting point for integrating WPS principles into the training curriculum and policy frameworks of the justice sector. He expressed hope that WPS norms and principles would become mainstreamed into key judicial processes to improve justice delivery.
Amina Akano-Bello, SPRiNG’s Gender Equality, Disability, and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) Lead, highlighted the Judiciary’s pivotal role in implementing NAP III across its five pillars, particularly focusing on participation, protection, prosecution, and accountability. The engagement aimed to identify priority entry points and develop a roadmap to strengthen the Judiciary’s contribution to WPS outcomes, including advancing women’s leadership within the justice sector.
Akano-Bello stressed the need to strengthen judicial understanding and application of WPS commitments, particularly regarding access to justice and protection of women and girls from sexual and gender-based violence. The discussions also aimed at ending impunity through effective, timely, and gender-responsive justice delivery, including responses to conflict-related sexual violence.
Esther Eghobamien, Vice Chair of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), called for urgent reforms and stronger judicial responses to emerging security and justice challenges, such as kidnapping, trafficking, technology-facilitated crimes, and sexual and gender-based violence. Eghobamien emphasized the need for a legal framework to criminalize ransom and abduction and urged the judiciary to shape the legal landscape through judgments protecting victims and deterring future crimes.
Representing the NJI, Ms. Adaeze Oby-Aziwe, a Management Staff, commended SPRiNG for the initiative and welcomed the collaboration. She emphasized the focus on action-oriented outcomes and the development of an operational action plan to guide future engagements.