The European Union-United Nations (EU-UN) Spotlight Initiative and the National Orientation Agency (NOA) have revealed that violence against women and girls (VAWG) is highly prevalent in seven out of the 13 local government areas in Ebonyi State.
The organisations made this announcement in Onueke, Ezza South Local Government Area of the state, during a community-based road show or rally to raise awareness about the necessity of speaking up about violence against children, violence against women and girls, and gender-based violence in various groups in the seven selected local governments in the state.
The program was organised by the National Orientation Agency in the state with support from the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative.
Unah Uchenna, the Programme Officer at the National Orientation Agency, Ebonyi State, and the UNICEF Desk Officer in the agency, revealed that violence against children, women, and girls was still widespread in the seven local governments despite campaigns against the menace.
“During our roadshow in one of the seven local governments on Tuesday, we observed many children on the streets hawking during school hours, which is between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Thus, the problem is still prevalent, and we are taking all necessary measures to eradicate these issues from our society,” he stated.
He noted that NOA and the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative have reached out to millions of people to encourage them to report violence against children, women, and girls in their communities promptly and how to address these violence issues and provide solutions to help the victims.
“We educated the people on reporting any form of violence against children, women, and girls in real-time, without waiting for days, weeks, or months before reporting. This delay is one of the problems we face in the fight against this menace.
“We also informed them on how to take ownership of the programme because if a community takes up a programme against violence targeting children, women, and girls, they should reach out to partners like the Ministry of Women Affairs, the National Orientation Agency, the Ministry of Justice, and others working in this field,” he said.
One of the women in the local government, Mrs Ujebe Evelyn Nneka from the Ezzama community, who is part of the surveillance team of NOA and EU-UN in the fight against gender-based violence (GBV), urged the people of the local government to report any form of violence against women, children, and girls to the appropriate authorities.
“We are here to advocate for the people to report any form of violence against women and girls in the community.
There is a need to report any form of GBV in our area. Community members should stop child labour, child hawking, and child marriage because they are minors and don’t understand what they are doing.
We should stop wife battering; rape is not allowed. Let widows inherit their husbands’ properties and give them land to farm,” Ujebe said.
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