Note of Concept for the Establishment of Self-Defense Clubs in Secondary Schools in Enugu State, Nigeria.
1.0. Background
In Nigeria, the spate of abuse – from mild to violent – has increased in recent times since the COVID-19 lockdown. Women and girls are the worst victims. More recently, several factors have exacerbated an already bad situation. Economic crises and high level of insecurity are conspiring factors. High level of unemployment and run-away inflation have led to high levels of crime and criminality and insecurity. This insecurity has displaced persons from the north to the southern part of the country and has made victims more vulnerable to abuse. Often, girls and women are abused by close relatives and friends. They are maimed, raped and murdered. Most of the time, they never get justice.
2.0. Motivation
Our motivation is to enable girls to become less vulnerable to all forms of abuse. We believe that mild abuse if unchecked and enabled can become violent. Most domestic abuse and abuse outside of the homes begin with early warning signs which most of the victims are not aware till they become vulnerable to more violent forms. We therefore need to establish self-defense clubs in High Schools to educate the girls and boys on the signs of abuse and how to guard against them.
3.0. Objectives
The following are the objectives of establishing the self-defense clubs:
- To teach students to learn to discern abuse
- To teach students to learn to deflect abuse
- To teach students to learn to defend against abuse
4.0. Implementation
In the self-defense clubs, students will be capacitated on the following:
- To discern abuse is to teach students early warning signs of abuse. Students will be taught how to detect abusive behaviour and avoid the tendency from worsening.
- To deflect abuse is to for students to learn to buy time with an abuser – a rapist – to enable her to call the police or some other persons to help to rescue them from the abusive situation and possibly arrest and prosecute the abuser
- To defend against abuse is to train students to protect themselves physically from violent abusers. This has become very imperative since most of the rape victims are also maimed and murdered. Violent abuse may occur when students are unable to discern and deflect abuse. Students will trained on martial arts to protect themselves and disarm the abusers.
The training will span 50 weeks across 17 Local Government Areas in Enugu state. Over 1000 students will be trained.
We shall develop learning materials and manuals on each of the training contents. We will develop materials on national and international laws and conventions that protect adolescents from abuse. We shall also provide them contacts to report abuse cases. Also we will hire instructors on martial arts to teach students to protect themselves in abusive situations.
5.0. Summary of Costs
The cost outlay for the project for the period of 50 weeks is about $38,000
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