How Poverty Induced By Inflation, Hike In Fuel Price Escalate GBV In Akwa Ibom 

   Photo Credit: Annie Spratt on unsplash.com 

Uduak Eyo, 37, breaks into sobs intermittently as she describes the pain and torture her husband put her through when she lost her job at an eatery. ‘The last eight months have been hell’ she says. ‘’He is constantly reminding me of how he made a mistake by getting married to me and leaving behind graduates that were rushing him’, she sobbed. 

Uduak who hails from Nsit Atai local government area of Akwa Ibom State, South-South Nigeria, said her husband became verbally and physically abusive because she could no longer earn an income. ”He began drinking and staying out late’, she said. Reporting the abuse to her in-laws did not help. 

Photo Credit: Annie Spratt on unsplash.com 

  Most of the women interviewed in this report have two major things in common: they are from Akwa Ibom state and are currently out of jobs. They all have similar experiences of gender-based violence in their homes, which they attribute to the bad economy, rising inflation as well as the impact of fuel subsidy removal in the country. They all have shared stories of physical, emotional and verbal abuse.  

During his May 29, 2023  Presidential inaugural speech, President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of fuel subsidy which is meant to free up financial resources for other sectors of the economy, encourage domestic refineries to produce more petroleum products, reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported fuel and increase employment.  Recently, there has been an outcry by the people over the inability of the average Nigerian to afford basic amenities like food, fuel and gas. For instance, the prices  of major food items significantly increased across several markets as Nigeria grapples with the high cost of goods and services. The cost of filling a 12.5kg cylinder of gas increased by 44% in October 2023 selling for an average of N13, 750. But it seems that the intended purpose and expectations of the president’s pronouncement is still a far cry from reality as the average family in the country battles to make ends meet. 

According to data obtained from the internal audit of the Central Bank of Nigeria, for the last quarter (April-June 2024) there was a steady increase in the inflation rate in Nigeria.   In April, the annual inflation in the country stood at 33.69%, May at 33.95% while in June, it was 34.19%.  Food inflation also known as non-core inflation, according to the CBN in April, was 40.53%, May, 40.66% while in June it was 40.87% 

 Faith Paulinus, a Fiscal Accountability Analyst with Policy Alert, a Civil Society Organisation in Nigeria observed that the headline inflation rate which accelerated in June 2024 was the highest since March 1996 amid the removal of fuel subsidies and a weakening local currency. 

Uduak Akpan, a single mum of three and an Office Assistant in an organisation in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, said the increase in fuel price is making it difficult for to provide for her kids. Akpan said she could not even afford transport fare to her place of work, feed her family with her meagre salary. ‘I have not achieved anything and it’s even difficult to get a better job that will pay higher as even a salesgirl’s job pays between N20,000 to N30,000 and that is like jumping from frying pan to fire,’ she says. 

In extreme conditions, some families in Akwa Ibom, South-South Nigeria, were left with little choice but to beg for leftovers at restaurant. 

 The situation also compelled a 22-year-old widow identified as Grace Udeme Esenowo to feed her four children with chicken and fish feed from the farm she works in, at Okon Clan of Eket in the state The daughter of the farm owner, Queen Praise Uzoma who caught her in the act, posted the incident on Instagram. This elicited sympathy and support from the public including the wife of Akwa Ibom State governor, Patience Umo Eno 

 In a press release by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor’s wife, Mrs Umo Eno directed her NGO, the Golden Initiative for All, (GIFA) to work with the Ministry of Women Affairs and Female Stakeholders in Eket, Akwa Ibom state.  to support the young mother and her children. She also gave her a cash gift of N500,000. 

Stories like this raise important questions about governance in Nigeria and the gap between the leaders and citizens.   

Mrs Grace Udeme Esenowo. Photo Credit: Media Unit, Office of the Wife of the Governor, Akwa Ibom State 

Reacting to the incident, a social reformer and author, Andy Akpotive,  who spoke to AWiM News,  said it was not actually the duty of the government to feed her citizens especially when they are not doing that through a social welfare scheme as done in other countries where the government support people through hard times. 

Akpotive noted that Grace’s situation was a call to action for the government to provide an enabling environment for businesses to thrive, create equal employment opportunities for citizens to work, earn a living and take care of their families. 

 ”If you are a socialist state and want to help your people you must have a veritable database that you’ll use to make your calculation. This set of people are the ones we can budget a certain amount monthly, but do we have such data?” he queried. 

Another woman going through a similar experience is Eka, a hairdresser in Uyo, the capital of Akwa Ibom state, South-South Nigeria. She has four children and is a victim of domestic violence. She said she has reported the matter to the welfare unit of the state’s Ministry of Women Affairs. “My husband has been using a wheelbarrow to supply drinks since they stole his vehicle’ ’she said. “When leaving the house sometimes he will give me N1,500 or N2,000 to cook soup even when we have nothing in the house.’’ She narrates how she cooks for her children with the small amount of money she had. 

 Itam Market Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.  Photo Credit: Lovina Emole 

 Otuekong Franklyn Isong, Chairman, Centre for Human Rights and Accountability Network (CHRAN), Akwa Ibom State council, explained that most of the time, men are at the receiving end of the harsh economy in the sense that they foot the bill and take care of so many responsibilities. But in any case, he noted that frustration and hardship should not make a man react violently: “I have heard several cases where men abandon their families, left their homes and never returned. People are committing suicide. Frustration is telling on more men.” 

FINANCIAL ABUSE- A CRIME 

Obi Amaka Aga, Head of chambers, Leading Edge Solicitors and Notary public, who specialises in Family Law, has explained that financial or economic abuse in marriage is a crime in which an offender risks some months in jail or payment of fine. 

She stated that the offence is not gender specific as either of the spouses could be culpable, noting that the act usually causes the survivor to have low self-esteem, emotional and psychological trauma. She warns couples to desist from being caught in the web of financial abuse: “Economic abuse is defined when a spouse prevents the other from engaging in productive job or stopping a partner from engaging in a business or one particular partner is financially stable, and you do not  release funds to the other partner for welfare of the home.” She said “There are some women who are fully trained and educated before getting married and their spouses said they won’t work, that could be depressing, and such persons are usually sad.  

In an interview with the Secretary, Gender Based Violence Management Committee in Akwa Ibom State, Barrister Emem Ette, she explained that there was a dip in the rate of GBV issues in the state between 2021 to 2022 and then it picked up again from 2023 till now. According to her “there is a spike in GBV cases and as a committee we are working hard to sensitise the people against it’’ 

 Data From the GBV unit, Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Justice  

Data obtained from the Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) Response Department of the state’s Ministry of Justice showed that 321 cases of GBV were recorded between January to November, 2023 with the age range of victims between two and 65. From this data, there were 170 cases of spousal battery, 20 cases of physical injury, 11 cases of harmful widowhood practices and 120 rape cases. 

Ette said in total, 1,467 cases of sexual and gender-based violence cases have been recorded in the state from 2021 till date noting that spousal battery tops the list with 520 cases with only one conviction of it. 

SEEKING PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSISTANCE

Gender– based violence has had a significant impact on the mental health of survivors particularly women. The World Health Organisation has recognized it as a significant public health issue globally. Speaking with Dr. Godwin Eniekop, Specialist Psychiatrist at the Mental Health Department, University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, UUTH, Akwa Ibom State, he identified frustration occasioned by economic hardship as well as GBV as among the stressors of mental health disorders in individuals.

This could be likened to the cases of Mrs. Eyo and Eka whose husband’s abusive attitude towards them was blamed on frustration. Dr Eniekop said” being unable to live up to marital expectations; unable to pay bills at home, achieve the set goals in marriage, are enough to build up mental stress.” He regretted that due to stigmatisation in society, so many people find it difficult to seek mental health care on time.  

  ” In this facility we have had an upsurge in the inflow of patients, we can attribute that to the consequence of economic hardship bearing in mind the nature of disorders we diagnose’ he said.  

Dr Eniekop said in order to get healing from the trauma of abuse, there must first of all be an identification of the problem and help sought from the appropriate mental health care facility. Aside from the mental health challenge victims of GBV face; it causes a decline in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of a country or state as the productivity of both the abuser and the abused would be impacted and reduced. The global cost of violence against women has been estimated at least 1.5 trillion dollars (about $4,600 per person in the US). 

 A World Bank study found that violence against women costs 1.23.7% of gross domestic product (GDP) for some countries emphasising that these proportions of GDP are what many countries spend on primary education. Quantifying the direct impact of cost of violence in terms of statistics remains a challenge for policymakers but resources spent on course of litigations of GBV cases by victims, hospital bills in-terms of treatment of injuries, loss of wages and employment due to psychological and emotional distress among others can put much pressure on the GDP.  This accounts for Dr. Eniekop’s assertion that based on the cases presented lately at the UUTH, many women diagnosed of having mental health disorder fail to make regular appearances to clinics for reviews following the high cost of medications. 

Photo Credit: Lovina Anthony 

Giving an insight on how the inflation is taking its toll on families especially women, a Professor of Economics, in the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Emmanuel Onwiduokit said women are caregivers and the engine room of every family in terms of planning, hence they should be emotionally alert to pull through, according to him, ” People have to be emotionally intelligent because talking to someone alone can bring about quarrel or violence. Everybody is agitated and on the edge.” 

                                  DEALING WITH INFLATION IN NIGERIA  

Professor Onwiduokit described inflation as being multifaceted and caused by monetary growth and reduction in productivity, especially agricultural products. He noted that withdrawal of subsidies from both electricity tariff and petroleum products without productivity backup have increased the prices of goods and services and put pressure on foreign exchange. He decried the attempt of injecting cash into the economy by the Central Bank of Nigeria and harped on increase in local production and fight against insecurity to stem the tide of insecurity. 

 “All the food we eat here, like rice, yam, beans will be sourced from Nigeria. There will be no pressure on foreign exchange to import those foods, so the demand for foreign exchange for the purpose of importation of food items will be reduced’’ 

 He suggested that inflation should be checked, the central bank should not just be printing money and giving it to the government because of the person that appointed them.  

“If our refineries are working. the prices of goods will certainly be lower, productivity will increase, most of the companies have closed shop in Nigeria, they have moved to Ghana and to other places because of the adverse economic environment in Nigeria” 

                           ROLE OF RELIGION AND GOVERNMENT IN CURBING GBV 

 Rights Advocate, and the State Director of Centre for Human Rights and Accountability Network (CHRAN) Franklyn Isong, believes that government and religious leaders have a role to play to mitigate the impact of inflation and reduce the cases of GBV in the state attributing the root cause of recent spike in violence to frustration. According to him, the government has a role to play in this, the root cause of this frustration is unemployment, poverty, hunger, and under employment. 

” Today, shops are closing, businesses are leaving; look at the famous syringe factory in Akwa Ibom, it’s gone! he said. What about pharmaceutical companies? We carried out a market survey recently and the prices of food items have skyrocketed. We do not want a palliative system of government but policies and programs that would make businesses thrive, provide employment opportunities and make the economy viable. 

He also noted that religious leaders in the churches and mosques should modify their messages and preach hope and comfort. “When we talk of message of hope for instance, you cannot be preaching a sermon at the pulpit that a man who cannot feed his family is worse than an infidel, the man will go home dejected” He appealed to men not to vent their anger and frustrations on their families despite the predicament they are passing through; Isong asked the people to look out for their neighbors and loved ones and encouraged women to be patient with their spouses amidst the harsh economic situations. 

Editor’s Note: The names of the survivors have been altered in this report for their security.  

This story is part of the African Women in Media (AWiM) ‘Reporting Violence Against Women and Girls’ project, supported by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.