Kaduna State government on Saturday mobilised support for the campaign against Gender-Based Violence (GBV).
This it did using its Ministry of Human Services and Social Development in partnership with Aid Foundation, an NGO.
At an event to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the commissioner in the ministry, Hajiya Hafsat Baba, urged stakeholders to support the state’s laws against violence.
“We need everybody’s cooperation and support, especially in implementing the Violence against Persons (Prohibition) Law (VAP), the Child Welfare and Protection Law and other relevant laws and policies.
“We are interested in curbing violence against children, women, the elderly and the youth, and we are doing all we can to ensure that nobody is violated under any guise.
“We want people to know about the laws and the services we are providing and how to access them in the event that any child or woman is violated.
“Some of the services include the women shelter and sexual referral centres for medical and psychosocial support for women and children that are violated, as well as the justice system for prosecuting offenders,’’ she said.
The commissioner appealed to religious and traditional institutions to always communicate with their subjects against all forms of GBV.
In his remarks, the Executive Director of Aid Foundation, Mr Emmanuel Bonet, said that supporting women to live a dignified life was one of the foundation’s thematic areas of intervention.
Bonet said that the collaboration with the ministry to mark the 16 days of activism to eliminate violence against women was being effected under its Enhancing Citizens Participation in Governance project.
He noted that most residents of the state were not aware of the provisions of the VAP law and other laws, and policies designed to curb GBV and all forms of violence against women and children.
He said that to address the challenge, the NGO supported the ministry to produce an explanatory video as the simplest way to pass the messages of the laws to citizens.
He added that the NGO would mobilise lawyers, high profile doctors, psychologists, and other professionals to chart a way forward for strengthening the implementation of the VAP law.
“The team will help in the effective prosecution of offenders and deter people from perpetuating any kind of violence to fellow humans irrespective of age,’’ he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports in attendance at the event were traditional and religious leaders, government officials, security personnel, lawyers, managers of sexual referral centres, and civil society organisations. (NAN)
