Dr Eugenia Akpa, Coordinator, Gender Policy Unit, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, says the university will reach out to Kudan Local Council for enforcement of the by-law on Technical and Vocational Education.
Akpa who made the disclosure in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Zaria, said the law enacted to enhance girl-child enrolment in schools.
The bye-law was enacted by the local council in September 2020 to also enhance Technical and Vocational Education for girls and women in the area.
The coordinator explained that the unit in collaboration with Women Connect Initiative, advocated for the by-law to boost vocational skills among women and enhance enrolment of the girl-child.
“Since the bye law was enacted, the unit has not reached out to the council to know the update on the implementation of the law in the area. We will have a follow up on the Act.
“We are going back to Kudan Local Government Council to know exactly what is happening on the implementation of the By-Law and in the event of non compliance we would do further campaign”, she said.
Akpa also said that the unit recently embarked on a campaign to get feedback from Nigerians on Gender Based Violence (GBV), which she noted was quite endemic in the society.
She noted the high rate of GBV in the society, adding that the campaign was an opportunity to have many views around GBV, which had been documented.
The coordinator said that plans were ongoing to scale up the campaign against sexual abuse in secondary schools and communities across the state.
She stressed that the endemic nature of the cases in Kaduna states had made Gov. Nasir El-Rufai to enact stringent law to punish perpetrators.
Akpa, however, said that preserving evidence was necessary in order to punish perpetrators gender based violence.
“In the final analysis, you will not see anybody hanged at the end of the day.
“There is stigma; the lawyers look for evidence and the attitude of victims who rushed to wash themselves after being raped makes it difficult to obtain evidence and prove rape cases in the court”, she said.
Akpa added that these, among other reasons, informed their decision to take the campaign down to secondary schools and rural communities in the state. (NAN)
