Niger Govt. Moves To Check Gender Based Violence

…. Inaugurates 20 Member Management Committee To Curb the Menance

Olabode  Adaramola

Apparently  concerned about   the rising cases of Gender Based Violence in the Niger State, the State  Government has inaugurated a 20- member Management Committee with the view to curb the menace of Gender and Domestic Based Violence mostly among women.

The 20 Member management committee drawn from across all the relevant  Agencies, Ministries, Parastatals and other critical stakeholders, has the wife of the  State Governor, Dr. Amina Abubakar  Bello as the Chairperson.

Inaugurating the committee at the Council Chambers, Government House in Minna on Monday, the State Governor  Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello said the constitution of the State Gender Based Violence Committee was  long overdue “considering the rising cases of these criminal act in recent times”.

The Governor pointed out that no responsible government will fold it’s hans d and watch the right of certain people in the society be abused on a daily bases, saying that “the cases of Gender Based Violence has been on the increase and this is not acceptable”.

Governor Abubakar Sani Bello said the committee has been mandated, among other issues,  to address all issues related to Gender Based Violence in the state with a view to curbing  the ugly phenomenon, stressing  that “this will pave way for a better and decent society”.

He however conceded that the Gender Based Violence was peculiar to women and girls alone, just as  available statistic indicated  that women and girls were more at the receiving end than their male counterparts.

Speaking shortly after its inauguration, the Chairperson and Wife of the Governor Dr. Amina Abubakar  Bello said,  “there is no better time to take a concrete step towards addressing the Gender Based Violence in our society than now, “because the phenomenon is deeply rooted in our communities”.

She however expressed regrets that Gender Based Violence has sent many innocent women and girls to their early and therefore believed that the responsibility for curbing this disturbing phenomenon lies with all as critical stakeholders.

According to her, the statistics of Gender Based Violence in the state is quite worrisome, especially during COVID 19 Lockdown, pointing out that “there were exponential increase in the number of cases of rape, ranging from old women and children of less than three months”.

For instance, Dr. Bello disclosed that “in 2020 alone, 133 cases were reported with only eight convictions out of 77 prosecutions”, stressing that “this number is highly unacceptable and these perpetrators go back into the society and continue their evil”.