A Nigerian developer’s app joins efforts to fight sexual crimes

Helpio allows victims in northern Nigeria to report cases anonymously and seek help, amid widespread fear of stigmatisation and soaring sexual assault figures.

By Elfredah Kevin-Alerechi

Rivers state, Nigeria – On a morning last February, eight-year-old Aminatu Zana – whose real name has been concealed – was raped in her hometown of Kano, Nigeria’s second largest city. The alleged perpetrator was no stranger: a neighbour, who used his familiarity and a bar of chocolate to lure the child into his room, then threatened her if she spoke of his crime.

But bloody traces of his assault on Aminatu’s garments gave him away. Her widowed and impoverished mother, Salima, dreaded going to the police but was encouraged by her neighbours to press charges. That itself was uncommon, as due to fear of stigmatisation and lacking trust in legal pathways, many victims in this part of the country do not pursue justice.

Aminatu’s story is too frequent in Nigeria, where rape and sexual assaults are epidemics but remain a taboo – especially in the north, where conservative societal codes govern a predominantly Muslim population.

The scale of the problem drove software developer Sa’adat Aliyu in August last year to launch Helpio, an Android mobile phone application designed to help combat such crimes and break the cultural barriers feeding it.

“I noticed that rape and sexual assault are rampant in Kano and most victims do not have anyone to run to, nor know how to report the cases,” Aliyu told Al Jazeera.

Victims using Helpio can remain anonymous, she explained, and they can gain “immediate access to a network of counsellors like doctors, sexual gender-based violence (SGBV) activists and legal representatives who follow up the case to ensure justice is served”.

Support is immediate and free, and being the only such software in Hausa, the main language spoken in the region, this help is – in theory – accessible to more than 30 million people living in Nigeria’s north.

Non-victims can also use the app to learn how to protect themselves and family members from potential threats. There is also a hotline for those in need of immediate help.

Helpio’s launch came as COVID-19 lockdowns spurred a “shadow pandemic”, according to Adamu Abbas, Kano lead at Connected Development (CODE), a platform that works with government institutions to enhance public services, and which has been working on raising awareness to curb rife SGBV numbers.

During the pandemic, “victims could not report cases due to lockdown and restriction of movement”, Abbas told Al Jazeera. Unavailable transportation and limited access to overstretched healthcare discouraged victims from reporting, he said.