 The wife of the Lagos State Governor, Dr. Bijake Sawolu and the U.S. Consul General Claire Pier Angelo have joined the Women at Risk International Foundation's work on a no-tolerant walk against gender-based violence. The march was to commemorate the globally-recognized annual U.N. 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. Details. All over the world, civil society, celebrities, survivors and family-like hold enlightenment campaigns to draw attention to sexual and gender-based violence. Nearly three in ten Nigerian women have experienced physical violence by the age of 15. The narrative worsened in the wake of the COVID-19 and the lockdown in 2020. As marches drew enabling laws, victims as to subject to stigmatization and suppression. The wife of the Lagos State Governor, Dr. Bijake Sawolu, was at this march to show solidarity. The Women at Risk International Foundation Waref and the United State Consulate were emphatic that no meant no, and victims should not be the ones to be shamed. At the Waref Centre, we had a 64% increase in call rates in the first lockdown back in March of 2020, and since then we've had a 20% increase in the number of girls and women that visit the centre. We rely on our social and cultural practices and norms, and sadly communities survive a shame. A girl cannot speak out against the abuse because she's afraid. She's afraid of her family name. She's afraid that she'll be ostracized by her community. So what communities have to do, what families have to do, is stand by the survivor. If you see violence, it doesn't mean physical, it also means verbal, it also means psychological. If you see violence going on against women or girls, you need to step in. Not only the women, but the men need to step in and stop it. Remember, these are your sisters, these are your mothers, these are your daughters. For Comedienne Dame Lola de Coya, popularly known as Princess, she joined the walk in solidarity for her world who was sexually abused. She said the laws are not enough if they cannot be implemented. Others were unanimous in their charge for gender equity and justice for victims. If you are told that somebody is a rapist or they abuse the child, and you did not say anything about it, you are one of those people. We can't keep quiet. We can't say, oh, it's not my business. We can't say don't talk so that they won't say you are the one that said it. We can't continue that way. It is very obvious that most of us Nigerians have lost our humanity. If not, there is nothing, there is no attraction between a 48-year-old or a 50-year-old man or a 35-year-old man and a three-month-old baby. Women are suffering. A lot of them cannot even speak out. And those are managed to speak out and victimize. We need to be protected. We need to know that we are not the cause of the things that happen. We always say having the male voice to amplify the female voice is very important as well. We can see all sorts of women now gathered, mobilized to speak up against rape and other sexual and gender-based violence. We also need male in our community to mobilize and support us as well. The 16 days of activism against gender-based violence kicked off on the 25th of November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and will run until the 10th of December, the human rights day.