Women experts have called for more funding and male participation in ending gender-based violence (GBV) and its harmful traditional practices affecting women and girls in the country.
They made the call at a news briefing in Abuja to commence the 16 days of activism organized by a non-governmental organization (NGO), the Tabitha Cumi Foundation (TCF), on Friday.
The Executive Director of TCF, Mrs. Tayo Erinle, said more funding, prevention and response interventions, and male involvement would reduce the prevalence of GBV cases in the country.
Erinle added that through their Flashlight Actions on Girls Safety (FLAGS), a UN Trust fund project, they had supported 750 marginalized adolescent girls through virtual case management on GBV.
“We call for increased financing of gender-based violence (GBV) prevention and response interventions, including the development of a school code of conduct for both staff and students in schools.
”And across all the non-formal centers, as well as the allocation of specific resources linked to the achievement of the set outcomes,
”Government, civil society organizations, and the private sector should scale up interventions for male engagement and involvement in GBV prevention and response,” she said.
According to her, through the FLAGS project, 30 safe spaces were created and 82 community outreaches were reached in FCT, Nigeria, and Nasarawa states.
She also stressed the need for more women to be empowered, girl-child education, and advocacies by religious, cultural, and political leaders to end GBV, as well as effective punishment for GBV cases.
Funmi Kolawole, Gender Desk Officer, Nigeria Police Force, reiterated the commitment of the police, who were constantly trained on handling GBV cases, to ensure survivors and victims get justice.
”In FCT command, there is no division; you will not meet someone specialized in GBV because we don’t want the perpetrator to continue.
”We want them to be punished, and we equally want justice for the survivors. We have gender officers who attend to such cases that come to the station,” she said.
Also, the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) department of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Mrs. Ijeoma Amigo from, noted the challenges of out-of-court settlements, which affects prosecution of SGBV cases.
”In NAPTIP, we have so many challenges of prosecuting people, especially under sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV).
”Some people will commit heinous crimes against others, but because they are poor and before it gets to nap tip, they will go and meet them and offer as little as N50,000. They will forgive a crime as heinous as rape.
“But if everybody is sensitive and knows that there is nothing bad about going to law enforcement and having the case go to court,” she said,
Representing the Child’s Protection Network (CPN),Mr. Olusegun Olurunfemi, stressed the need for more sensitization and collaboration to end harmful traditional practices affecting women and children.
”There are some social norms within our communities that we need to do something about, like the killing of twins in 57 communities within the FCT still being practice.
”It is time for us to begin to see some of our norms that do not support what we are doing and it is a challenge for every one of us,” he said.
Other activities organized by TCF to mark the 16 days of activism include community dialogue, sensitization session, advocacies, rallies and social media campaign.
