Unprepared Lockdown: COVID-19 Pandemic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence in Nigeria

The essence of this paper is to interrogate sexual and gender-based violence in Nigeria during the COVID-19 lockdown. The study also interrogates activism against gender-based violence in the country during the lockdown.the COVID-19 lockdown was unprepared and so had huge negative consequences that affected households and livelihoods. It created conditions that triggered sexual and gender-based violence. Many households became violent overnight due to scarcity and other basic needs. The attitude of transferred aggression was developed with women, children, girls and other vulnerable persons as victims. However, activism was highly resilient in the wake of the pandemic. Many human rights activists especially women raised to the occasion of creating awareness about the danger of sexual and gender-based violence.