ActionAid Nigeria has sounded the alarm over rising technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TF-GBV), revealing that 45% of Nigerian women have experienced cyberstalking and 10.6% have been victims of doxing the online release of private information.
The figures were presented in Abuja at a National Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue on TF-GBV organised by UN Women, the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, ActionAid, and other partners as part of the 2025 16 Days of Activism campaign.
ActionAid’s Women’s Rights Programme Manager, Niri Goyit, warned that journalists, activists, politicians and influencers are among the most targeted.
“Nigeria’s internet use has grown faster than the safeguards needed to protect users. Survivors as young as fourteen now seek help,” she said.
Goyit listed patriarchal norms, low digital literacy, weak law-enforcement capacity and poor platform moderation as key drivers of digital abuse.
She said girls aged 12–17 and young women up to 35 are especially vulnerable due to early exposure to social media.
She noted that online abuse often spills into real-life harm.
“TF-GBV causes fear, anxiety and trauma. Some survivors withdraw from communities or lose opportunities. In many cases, online threats escalate into physical danger.”
Goyit called for stronger coordination among government agencies, tech platforms, law enforcement and survivor-support centres.
“Government must provide clear reporting pathways, law enforcement needs digital skills, and tech companies must improve takedowns,” she said.
ActionAid Country Director, Andrew Mamedu, reaffirmed the group’s commitment to ending GBV nationwide.
Representing the Minister of Women Affairs, Dr. Adanna Steinaker said: “Technology should be a tool for empowerment, not a weapon of abuse.”
UN Women’s Acting Deputy Country Representative, Patience Ekeoba, added that TF-GBV is “one of the fastest-growing threats to gender equality” and urged a stronger national response.
