A Non-Governmental Organisation, Challenged Parenthood Initiative (CPI), has urged the Kogi House of Assembly to, without further delay, present a copy of the passed Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Bill for Gov. Yahaya Bello’s assent.
The CPI Executive Director, Ms Eunice Agbogun, who made the call at a news conference in Lokoja on Sunday, said the bill had already been passed by the House on March 21.
She said there was an urgent need for the VAPP bill to be assented to by the governor and gazetted without further delay to curtail the prevalence of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in the state.
Agbogun said that the law, when operational, would serve as a legal tool for the protection of people from all forms of violence.
She added that it was no longer news that violence and other forms of offences against persons in public and private life were at their peaks, making life unsafe.
According to her, existing legal frameworks do not cover all forms of offences in the state and that is why most perpetrators are not properly prosecuted and many individuals cannot access justice.
She noted that the impunity with which perpetrators carried out violent activities necessitated the advocacy for the passage of the VAPP bill as a legal tool of protection.
She explained that “the VAPP Bill is to eliminate violence in our private and public lives, prohibit all forms of violence against persons and provide maximum protection and effective remedies for victims and punishment to offenders.
“We are being faced with cases of GBV. We need the VAPP bill to be assented to, so that it will become a law and be gazetted.” (NAN)
