The High Commission of Nigeria in Ottawa has not yet responded DIRB's request for information on the above-mentioned subjects. Should the information become available in the near future, it will be transmitted to you immediately.

Country Reports 1991 (1992), however, provides some useful information:
While violence against women exists, there are no statistical data to help determine the extent of the problem. Police do not normally intervene in domestic disputes. Wife beating is common, particularly in rural areas where women are poorly educated and ignorant of the law. In more traditional areas, it is questionable whether the courts and police actively intervene to protect women who formally accuse their husbands if the level of alleged abuse does not exceed customary norms (204).

This response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Attached please find a review of a book entitled Wife Abuse in Nigeria which was published by the Women's International Network News. The review corroborates the information contained in the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1991 (1992).

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1991. 1992. United States Department of State. Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office.

WIN (Women's International Network News). [Lexington, Ma]. Summer 1993. Vol. 19. No. 3. "Wife Abuse in Nigeria," pp. 49-50.