Nigeria Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Act 2015 — GBV Criminalisation Across 34 States

The Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act 2015 is Nigeria's first federal statute comprehensively addressing gender-based violence. Enacted for the Federal Capital Territory, it requires state-level domestication across Nigeria's 36 states.

Expand the legal definition of rape to include anal and oral penetration and male victims, criminalise female genital mutilation and cutting (FGM/C), recognise coercive control, and prohibit harmful traditional practices including forced marriage and child marriage.

States progressively domesticated the federal Act; as of mid-2024, 34 of 36 states had enacted state versions (only Kano and Rivers had not). A 2024 Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) impact assessment covered twelve states.

The WFD 2024 assessment found increased GBV reporting and greater police awareness of the Act's provisions, though enforcement capacity remains weak in most states. A peer-reviewed multi-year study published in BMC Public Health (2025) found that state-level adoption of VAPP was associated with statistically significant declines in FGM/C prevalence across survey cohorts, providing causal evidence of behavioural impact, though it noted that awareness of the law outpaces enforcement in many rural areas.

In August 2024, a bill to repeal and re-enact the VAPP Act scaled second reading in the Senate; as of early 2025 it remained under Senate Committee review after strong public opposition from civil society and women's rights organisations, introducing legislative risk to the Act's long-term form.