By ODIMEGWU ONWUMERE

This investigation looks at the state of Nigerian women as the world marked International Women’s Day 2026, G.U Chukwu writes. It examines the call by CAPPA for stronger protection and inclusive policies, the daily reality of women who keep families and the economy running, and the heavy price they pay through gender-based violence, displacement, poor access to services, economic exclusion and low political representation. It also shows what works when women are supported, using evidence from Nestle Nigeria’s rural women empowerment program and voices from IDP camps and markets across the country

When CAPPA, the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa, released its statement on recently to mark the 2026 International Women’s Day, its message was short but heavy. The theme for this year, Give to Gain, is not a slogan in Nigeria, it is everyday life for women.

According to CAPPA’s Media and Communications Officer, Robert Egbe, Nigerian women continue to carry a huge share of the work that holds families, communities and the entire economy together. They manage household resources when money is scarce, they provide care for children and relatives, they keep small businesses running and they hold families afloat when the economy bites hard. Anyone who has lived in a Nigerian home knows this is true. The woman is often the first to wake and the last to sleep.

But the group warned that despite this central role, many women and girls still live without the basics that make life dignified. Millions still struggle to get safe water, proper sanitation, healthcare, education and other essential services. It is a contradiction that has become normal, women who give the most get the least protection.

The concern about safety is urgent. CAPPA cited the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey which shows that about 31 percent of Nigerian women aged 15 to 49 have experienced physical violence and about nine percent have experienced sexual violence at some point in their lives. The group added that more than 10,326 cases of gender-based violence were reported between January and September 2025. Government data shared by the Minister of Women Affairs points in the same direction, with about 30 percent of women in that age group having experienced physical or sexual violence.

These figures are not abstract. Behind them are young women like Uwavera Omozuwa, the 22-year-old student killed inside a church, whose murder sparked a serious movement. Behind them are pregnant women killed by abusive partners and teenagers pushed into forced marriages. CAPPA also raised alarm over the growing cases of femicide in Nigeria, saying advocates have repeatedly asked authorities to treat the killing of women as a national emergency and to strengthen prevention and accountability.

The picture gets darker when you move to conflict-affected areas. In Benue State, armed clashes have displaced nearly 400,000 people. In the Mbawa IDP camp near Makurdi, women like Iyua, a mother of six, face severe food shortage and risk sexual exploitation just trying to find money to feed their children. In Borno, the story is about long-term survival.

Women like Victoria Filibos, 54, and Tavita Yu, 40, have spent over a decade raising several children alone after their husbands were killed in insurgent attacks. Hadiza, from Bama now living in Maiduguri, became a widow after her husband was killed and had to start over in a new town with full responsibility for her family. In Adamawa, 14-year-old Ruth was kidnapped and enslaved by Boko Haram, suffered starvation and forced marriage, and on escaping, faced stigma from her own community.

In Borno again, Zainab was forced into marriage at age 11, endured years of abuse that left her with vesicovaginal fistula, was abandoned and then displaced by insurgency. These are not one-off stories. They show how conflict, displacement and poverty combine to make women extremely vulnerable.

Economic pressure adds another layer. The National Bureau of Statistics data shows that women are more likely to work in low-income and informal sectors where there is no job security or social protection. Women farmers, traders and small business owners in communities across the country struggle to access credit, land and inputs needed to grow their livelihoods.

Banks want collateral they do not have. Extension services rarely reach them. When the cost of living rises, it is women managing household welfare who feel it first. For some young women, this pressure pushes them into dangerous irregular migration. Stories like that of Motunrayo Joana, who sought domestic work in Egypt and ended up trapped in exploitation, abuse and debt bondage, show how desperation is being exploited.

Education, which should be a way out, is also disrupted. Organisations like Women for Women International have documented cases like Josephine from Cross River State who had to drop out of secondary school and elope out of fear after getting pregnant, ending her early ambitions. When a girl leaves school early, the effect follows her for life.

Then there is political exclusion. CAPPA highlighted that women occupy only about 3.9 percent of legislative seats in Nigeria, one of the lowest globally. Out of 469 members of the National Assembly, only 19 are women, 15 in the House of Representatives and four in the Senate.

When women are not at the table where budgets and policies are made, issues that affect them most like water, primary healthcare, GBV response, education and land rights get little attention.

CAPPA observed that reforms like the proposed Special Seats for Women Bill could help change this and called for its swift passage so that women’s voices can shape national policies.

What happens when women are intentionally supported? The Nestle Nigeria Empowering Rural Women project offers a useful contrast. Implemented with FDConsults, the project has reached hundreds of women across the country.

It started in August in North Central Abuja with 50 women from Kubwa, Nyanya and Gwagwalada, moved in November to the South West with 50 women from Oshogbo, Ede and Ilesa in Osun State, then in February to the South East with 50 women from Nsukka and Obollo-Afor in Enugu State, and later to the North East in Bauchi State.

The women were not just given money. They were trained in merchandising, bookkeeping, customer service and marketing, linked to mentors for three months and given grants valued at 300 percent of their monthly sales in form of Nestle products.

The results are visible. Mrs Joyce Nwaiwo from Port Harcourt said the opportunity felt like a dream. Mrs Hairat Bashiru from Oshogbo said the grant increased her business and income and helped her family live better.

Mrs Peace Eze from Obollo-Afor said she now has the knowledge and the goods to make her business succeed. According to Nestle Nigeria’s Corporate Communications Manager Victoria Uwadoka, the project targeted women who could not scale because they lacked funds, and after training and mentorship some recorded over 400 percent growth.

Commercial Manager Khaled Ramadan noted faster turnover, increased revenue and stronger visibility of their outlets. Head of Partnerships at FDConsults, Phranklin Audu, said grade-C retailers are moving up the distribution ladder and earning higher incomes.

The project aims to help each retailer sustain a business up to three times their existing size and is part of Nestle’s Creating Shared Value approach linked to UN Sustainable Development Goal 5 on gender equality. Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index recognized Nestle in 2022 with a 78 percent score above the average. These figures show a simple truth that CAPPA also made, investing in women pays.