Mimidoo Achakpa is the national coordinator of the AINSA Women Network, a foremost women organisation working on disarmament and small arms in Nigeria. In this interview with ENE OSHABA, she shares her experiences in this rare field of advocacy.
How has it been advocating against small arms proliferation in Nigeria?
When I started work on disarmament and small arms there was a lot of resistance, especially here in Nigeria and Africa generally because they feel a woman should not work in this area people, authorities felt what was I doing working on small weapons and so I faced lots of challenges, but when you start something and you are focused the end justifies the means.
I wasn’t discouraged, rather I went ahead and did a lot of training and also kept involving myself, especially at the international level since I wasn’t recognised in Nigeria and I am well known at the international stage.
When I started, I was like one person out of five to work on small arms issue in Nigeria there weren’t women in this area but with the advent of Boko Haram and many security challenges it seems as if everybody is now working in this area but not on the level which I do because I am a core civil society person.
What prompted your interest in this area of advocacy?
I like the gray areas where no one has touched, when I started I discovered that small arms issues was an area that even the men didn’t work much in except for a handful and it was a no go area for women; I picked interest during the peak of the Niger Delta crises and I trained on Disarmament Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) at the national defense college in Socum Redim and it was just two of us women in the midst of men that is myself from Nigeria and Pamela Mabonga from the UN in New York. I also attended several other training sessions. I paid my way to Sweden and they gave me a partial scholarship and so I made sacrifices and opportunities came and I explored.
How have you evolved being a voice for disarmament, insecurity in Nigeria?
Like I said, there has been that resistance and the advent of Boko Haram insecurity kidnappings and the rest of it, everybody is a security expert now but I have engaged the ministry of defense overtime so there is beginning to be that acceptance now from the ministry of defence, and just before Christmas the National Defence College invited me to do a training for their middle cadre staff from NDA it was a four days training so I would say there is beginning to be reorientation now.
How would you assess the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 in Nigeria?
I must say Nigeria is doing well with resolution 1325, globally she is one of the first country that came up with a National Action Plan (NAP) and reviewed the plan also currently reviewing the second national action plan to fill in the gap what was not covered in the second plan so that a third NAP can come up, and especially the present Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen, tenure is ensuring that security agencies and CSOs feel that they are carried along because she has formed what is called the Women Peace and Security Sector Reference group and participants are drawn from most of these Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and those without a gender action plan were encouraged to have one like the Defence headquarters launched their gender action plan last year and several others has followed suit also, several of the MDAs that do not have action plan or gender desk made a commitment to push for the establishment of gender desk and those who already has will push for reinforcement full implementation.
For me, Nigeria is doing well even though there is still a lot more that needs to be done in women’s peace and security. Nigeria has set a pace and standard that other African countries want to come and learn from what Nigeria has done and replicate in their own country.
Have you been involved directly in any conflict resolution or decision tables of security deliberations?
I have not been involved or invited to decision tables of security deliberations, but others may have been involved, but I won’t say women’s voices are not well captured or are well captured because I haven’t been invited. These things take time, it is a gradual process and we believe that with the work on ground it will take 10-15 years, but maybe by the time it comes to materialise we may not be alive but it’s something that will materialise so there is hope.
Would you say any feat was achieved last year in women peace and security?
Though I am not a government official so may not be the person to give full details and I have not been fully involved at decision tables but I think a lot has been in progress because the Chief of Army Staff publicly made a statement that he would support gender issues, others have also made commitments and the minister of women affairs also ensures she follows up on those who make commitments to ensure they keep to promise so there is hope.
The women budget earmarks a considerable amount to tackle issues of Gender Based Violence (GBV). What kind of issues do you think should be prioritised?
Though I haven’t seen the budget, I think the whole idea of tackling GBV that I was privy to by the ministry was to get a hub like a dashboard in the Minister’s office and then using some software that some people came up with that once a case is reported the dashboard in the minister’s office begins to blink to show the intensity of the problem.
There is already a hub at the ministry where any information that is sent goes straight to that hub and reports are gathered and analysed then those that are very urgent they go into action. Nigeria is very huge and the rate of GBV is disturbing yet some are reported and many others not reported so a specific budget for GBV will help the ministry and the CSO’s push for interventions at different state levels. The issue of prosecution too is another priority; there is so much to do on GBV.
What would you advise stakeholders on tackling GBV this year
Gender Based Violence (GBV), Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) including gun violence is broad and to treat it holistically you cannot leave out one; so I will advise the ministry to engage qualified people to carry out psycho social support because you know sometimes for fear of being stigmatised people don’t speak up so a lot of sensitisation needs to be done.
A lot of people don’t know when they are abused, but with sensitisation a lot of this will be addressed, with sensitisation people will begin to know steps to take when any form of abuse happens. There are people whose lives have been so threatened because of the GBV cases they handle, Nigeria still has many challenges but we will get there some day.
It is saddening that when you take cases of violence to constitute authorities they trivialise it and when you insist on following the matter your life is threatened.
What really is gender equality advocacy when it concerns security matters? Are you calling for women to also be at the forefront of war?
War itself is not a good thing so I won’t be saying anyone should fight any war, but the essence of the advocacy is to talk about what kind of interventions and how to react when there are GBV cases. When it happens, letting populace know that violence against women and girls is wrong, sensitization and advocacy comes in different forms.
What is your call to the govt this year on the implementation of Resolution 1325?
Whatever needs to be implemented in 1325 is based on the third national action plan which was established in the past with no budget allocated for this but if there is a budget for this now it is a good development and as the years go by more work will be done in this area.
This is a new year; let the CSO’s continue to work hard to support the government. We are in this together and when anyone is violated or abused it affects all of us so let us build one another, brainstorm and come up with good initiatives that can enable us to jointly or collectively carry out interventions.
For my own organisation, we already have a five year plan which ends in 2023 we will look at again this year and by next year will review, however we will resume on Monday with a retreat and bring out an annual work plan for the year
