Denorsemen Kclub International (DNKI) has called for united action against violence against women, urging victims to speak out.

“A peer-reviewed study of women in Lagos found that 73.3 per cent had experienced at least one form of intimate partner violence in their lifetime, and yet research confirms that only 1 per cent of those affected ever report it to the police,” said Charles Ubani, Chairman of DNKI’s Lagos State Chapter, Sancta Tamandu MP, in a statement commemorating International Women’s Day.

Ubani and Public Relations Officer Pius Ogwuilu emphasised that violence against women is “not rare, and silence around it is very nearly absolute.”

They described women as pillars and conscience of society, adding that DNKI’s motto, ‘Service to Humanity’, compels them to confront the stark realities of women and girl children being disadvantaged in Nigerian society.

The statement read: “Domestic violence is among the gravest of these violations. It is sustained by silence and by the dangerous misconception that what occurs within a home is a private matter. It is not.”

DNKI called on the government to “sustain and deepen its commitment to the welfare of women: to fund shelters and safe havens, to resource survivor support services, to invest in public education, and to ensure that every woman who reaches out for help is met with a hand that is ready to receive her.”