GBV: Foundation holds female Taekwondo championship on defensive skills

By Jethro Ibileke

No fewer than 100 female athletes have converged for 4th edition of female Taekwondo championship organised the Youth Empowerment Foundation (YEF), to raise awareness on gender-based violence against the girl-child.

Participating athletes are drawn from various States of the Federation, including Abia, Cross River, Delta, Oyo, Ondo, Edo and Ekiti States, will compete for prizes in several categories.

The championship which holds at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, in Benin, Edo State, on Saturday, November 1, 2025, began on Friday, October 31, with a training for the athletes on gender-based violence, how to identify and protect themselves against it.

The Programme Officer of YPF, Tony Eleme, disclosed that the purpose of the event is to empower the girl-child on knowledge about gender-based violence.

He explained that one of our core problematic intervention areas of the Foundation for youth empowerment is sport development, using Taekwondo and football.

He explained: “We so much believe in girl-child empowerment. We feel that when the girl-child is empowered, the whole nation is empowered. We use these to build the life skills of young girls, to build their leadership skill and their self-esteem.

“Because of the fact that there is so much increase in gender-based violence in our society, we dim it fit that it is something we need to work on so that they can be able to defend themselves, stay confident and raise their self-esteem.

“We believe that when you build the sport skills of the girl-child, you’re also building her self-confidence, building her decision-making skills and of course you’re also building her value and her relationship skills too. We so much believe in using sports to do this.”

Beside the possibility of defending themselves from gender-based violence to some extent, Eleme explained that the training equips them with the right orientation, to identify sexual and gender-based violence around them.

“Most times, some of these girls may be abused, they may be exploited, and they are not aware.

“So, when you build their skills, using sports, emphasizing the dangers and risks associated with gender-based violence, they quickly identify when they are abused and report appropriately. That is one of the reasons we are doing this today,” he added.

Earlier in his lecture, the Edo State Coordinator of Child Protection Network Nigeria, Dr. Nosakhare Erumwunse, noted that while both male and female suffer from gender-based violence, the female folks are more violated than male counterparts, by over 70 percent.

He explained that a girl who acquired Taekwondo skill can hardly be raped because she knows where to touch in the attacker’s body to disarm him.

Erumwunse, however, warned that those trained should never fight for fun with it, adding: “If you have such tactics, you should not use them to fight. When you are challenged to a fight, run away, because if you hit, you can kill.

He advised the athletes to always strive to be competent through hardwork.

“Your essence of being here is not only to compete, but to build your resilience, your self-esteem and you self-worth. Your relevance depend on your competence, your competence can determine how you’re rated or respected so, let your competence be your relevance,” he said.