Ahead of this year’s International Women Day, stakeholders and the government have resolved to work together to ensure the clinical dispensation of justice for victims of sexual and gender-based violence and other related crimes in Nigeria.
This was part of a communique issued last Thursday at the end of a two-day conference that hosted state commissioners from across the 36 states of the federation organised by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance with support of the European Union (EU) to empower and seek areas of collaboration to strengthen efforts towards eliminating all forms of social disparities in Nigeria.
The conference also called on government and development institutions and diplomatic missions to support the implementation and scaling of policies and interventions that ensure gender equality and inclusion, while also urging the media to support and amplify solution oriented advocacy that protects the rights of women, children and persons with disabilities.
Among other key resolutions reached, participants also agreed to support the implementation of sustained high level advocacy at all levels to transform underlying legal, government and policies that perpetuate gender inequalities.
At the conference, the Minister of Women’s Affairs, Barr. Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, commended the efforts of the EU and International IDEA, disclosing that the government is working to put measures in place to curb the issue. She also disclosed that President Bola Tinubu will, on March 7, inaugurate a transparency and integrity brigade to monitor and ensure the safety of women and children against verbal and physical abuse.
She said: “So, we are putting up measures and will be bringing on board the integrity brigade of which all commissioners for women affairs and traditional rulers are part of. These are some of the ways we want to save Nigeria. We cannot do this alone, and the Women’s Affairs Ministry cannot do this alone.”
Also speaking at the event, Head of Programmes, International IDEA, Danladi Plang, said the conference was organised to bring to attention some of the key challenges women, children, and persons with disabilities in Nigeria face in their quest for justice.
“Victims of sexual violence face challenges in accessing justice. So, the first thing is to draw attention to some of the challenges they face. And then the second one is also to present to them some of the opportunities that are available for them to make justice more accessible to these categories of people,” Plang said.
On her part, Commissioner for Women Affairs, Akwa Ibom State, Ini Adiakpan, said the era where women were neglected in the decision-making process was over. Adiakpan, who is the Dean of Commissioners for Women Affairs, hailed the idea of establishing inclusive schools that are not exclusively for disabled persons, which she said will aid the fight against stigmatisation.
