BillyGraham Abel, Yola

Technical Assistant on Rule of Law Advisory Team office of the Vice President, Hadiza Aminu Dorayi, says the Federal Government is willing and already working with relevant stakeholders and partners in three states of each geopolitical zone of the country, to strengthen the environment for effective Gender Based Violence (GBV) response.

Hadiza said the office of the Vice President is keen to create strong and effective structures for the protection of women and children and would be giving special attention to areas affected by conflicts in the country.

Hadiza made the remarks, on Wednesday, during a validation meeting for the draft report on enabling environment for GBV response in Adamawa state.

Hadiza, while commending the Adamawa State Government said, “Milestone have been recorded by the Adamawa state government and the partners working in the state on gender based issues.’

She noted that, “Adamawa state has made remarkable progress in terms of trained capacity to deal with GBV, the setting up of temporary shelter where victims who are in danger of GBV can run to, the creation of sexual assault referral center with representations from the police, medical practitioners, legal personnel and psychological support, the creation of a safe home for victims of GBV and the setting up of a special call center to report GBV.”

Hadiza also commended ongoing legal support structure especially the advocacy to executive and the legislative arms of government in the state.

“We realise that a lot of ground have been covered in terms of progress in the state in addressing gender based violence but what we want to look into is the area of mobilisation.

“It is one thing to set up structures but it is another thing for the people to know the value of these structures and to be able to take advantage of them to achieve the desired goal,” Hadiza maintained.

“The presidency will continue to work with the stakeholders to ensure that a law is passed to protect women and children in the state.

“The office of the vice president in respect to GBV is working with three states per geopolitical zones.

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“The FG has already set up response centers in Kano, Kaduna and in FCT and we have commenced work with the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to ensure that all the states in the region have the basic and relevant structures to address the issue of gender based violence,” she assures stakeholder.

“The goal of the Federal Government is to work with states to revamp their policies, improve their services, set up structures, improve their awareness and facilitate their mobilization towards achieving the goals of curbing gender based violence in the country.

“And our strategy is to maintain a level of coordination within all the states the country,” she said.

She emphasised that FG is willing to help state actors interface with international partners in terms of policy formation, advocacy and to help in creating the necessary environment for addressing gender-based violence in the country.

State Programme Officer of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and a National Humanitarian Analyst, Dr. Danladi Idrissa, said based on a recent research conducted among displaced population, “Rape has been one of the critical issues found in the state.

“Issues of rape of young girls, child abuse, child molestation, denial of resources and in some cases the rape of young boys too.”

Dr. Danladi said, “Most of the girls vulnerable to rape are those whose parents sent out hawking for daily bread for the family, a situation which also emphasizes the value of girl-child education.”

He explained that with all these challenges, the Adamawa state government alongside traditional institutions, have been working hard to address GBV issues.

“That was why in 2017, we supported the office of the State Attorney General to convene a conference of all attorney Generals of the 36 states of the federation including the Attorney General of the Federation in Yola to review laws on Gender-Based violence in the country.

“They were also here to support the state develop firm structures to curb sexual and gender-based violence.

“It is not in our African culture to abuse a child or women, so measures have to be put in place to prohibit these heinous crimes,” Danladi added.