The Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Pauline Tallen, has urged traditional and religious leaders to engage and facilitate dialogues at community, local government and state levels to end Gender-Based Violence (GBV).
Tallen made the call in a statement signed by the Director of Press, Ministry of Women Affairs, Mr Olujimi Oyetomi in Abuja.
The minister made the call at the end of a two-day meeting with northern traditional rulers, religious leaders and the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar III.
”GBV will be drastically reduced if traditional an religious leaders are engaged in high-level action.
”The Federal Government has taken steps to curb GBV. The 36 State Governors declaration of state of emergency on GBV and Federal Executive Council (FEC)’s approval of Child Rights Act, to curb GBV is welcomed,” she said.
She commended President Muhammadu Buhari and his Vice, Prof. Yemi Osibanjo, for supporting the struggle.
”We urged traditional and religious leaders to ensure that the Child Rights Act was domesticated in the 10 remaining states, which are basically the Northern states.
”We thank the Sultan, his Foundation and Development Partners such United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), UN and EU for taking the initiative to get the traditional and religious leaders in the North on board,” Tallen said.
Tallen said she would rally support and honour the Sultan with the “HeForShe” award over his efforts and that of his foundation, Sultan Foundation for Peace and Development, to end GBV.
In his remarks, the Sultan charged traditional rulers and religious leaders in the North, to set rules and ensure that the girl-child was safe and secured in their communities.
He said they should also strengthen alliances with networks, champion, encourage the influence among people of their communities.
The Sultan described the meeting as a high-level one since the inception of the Foundation in 2014.
The sultan said traditional rulers, as custodians of customs and values, played a strategic role in their communities.
”This role places a demand on traditional rulers to agree on innovative roles employed through the summit to end all forms of harmful practices associated with GBV,” he said.
He commended the role played by traditional and religious leaders at ending polio in Nigeria, adding that, in spite of government’s efforts, GBV had continued to increase.
The Sultan said that violence against the male-child should also be looked into, and called for the adoption of Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act (VAPP) and Child Rights Act in all states.
He urged the federal government to at least one gender-based violence resettlement centre in each of the geo-political zones.
In a message to the meeting, the UN Deputy Secretary General, Amina Muhammed, said one in every three women had experienced gender-based violence in their lifetime.
She listed GBV to include early marriage, forced marriage; female genital mutilation (FGM) and other forms of violence which she said were heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Muhammed assured the participants of the continued support of the UN and called on all traditional and religious leaders to condemn practices that did not give equal rights to women.
She also encouraged the participants to lend their voices to the fight against GBV in their spheres of influence.
Also in a goodwill message, the UNFPA Resident Representative in Nigeria, Ms Ulla Muella, expressed delight that culture and religion were also powerful influences that could end the GBV, and charged religious and traditional leaders to utilise their position to achieve zero GBV.
Muella advocated for medium that allowed women and girls to make decisions pertaining to their bodies, as well as the need to educate the girl-child.
She said that the UNFPA was committed to strengthening partnership with Nigeria government to eliminate GBV.
Also speaking, the Chairperson, Northern Governors Wives Forum, a pressure group, Mrs Hadiza El-rufai, appealed to religious and traditional rulers to balance their message to their subjects.
El-rufai stated that when cautioning the women to be modest in their dressing, the men should also be enjoined to lower their gaze.
She called for support for justice for those who suffered violence to deter perpetrators of GBV.
El-Rufai informed the summit that Northern Governors’ wives forum had championed the setting up of shelters for GBV in States.
The theme of the two-day summit was entitled: “Moving from Awareness to Action”.
