DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN THE LIGHT OF CULTURAL VARIATION: A REFLECTION ON NIGERIA’ S ETHNO-RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY

Abstract

Domestic violence has become a global topical issue. Social thinkers, scholars and human rights advocates have continued to express concern over the rising trend in domestic violence vis-à-vis the gradual and systematic erosion of family values as occasioned by culture. On daily basis the polity is awash with reports on spousal killings, brutalization, molestation, sexual abuse in the family. Evidently, these incidents have been traced to a number of factors which range from economic social, cultural and psychological disposition of spouses. Statistics obtained from Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics (2019) noted that thirty (30) percent of women in Nigeria, aged 15-49 have experienced physical violence, while sixty-eight (68) percent have encountered emotional, economic, or sexual abuse. This paper aims to bring to the fore the rising incidents of domestic violence in the light of cultural variation. This paper made use of qualitative method of data collection like Focus Group Discussion, Key Informant Interview and other secondary sources of data. The paper adopted and used a self-developed twelve (12) item semi structured interview guide for twelve (12) Key Informant Interview (KII) as well as two (2) sets of ten (10) participants each to elicit information on the phenomenon under study. The paper adopts biopsychological approach, social stressor and non-subordination theory in explaining domestic violence in spousal relationships. The paper concludes that, as long as spouses see marriage from the cultural point of view of male dominance and right to control his spouse so will the spates of domestic violence continue to threaten family life. The paper recommends a holistic approach as a means to solve the problem of domestic violence in Nigeria.