Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen, has said the fight against all forms of gender-based violence was equal to defending and sustaining human rights.
She said this on Tuesday at the opening of a two-day training workshop for media stakeholders on gender-based violence in Abuja.
The minister was represented by the Head, Gender-Based Violence Data Management Branch, Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, Abia, Udeme Nsikak.
According to her, the workshop was a call to action for all Nigerians on the mission, to eliminate all forms of gender-based violence in the Nigeria society.
Her words: “The scale of sexual gender-based violence, violence against women and girls and discrimination is alarming. The spike, pattern, trends, and the consequences of these forms of violence impact negatively on individuals, families, communities, and the country in general.
“Violence against women and girls, gender inequality, patriarchy and harmful cultural practices significantly inhibits women’s potentials to fully contribute their quota and participate in national development.
“Furthermore, the effects of gender-based violence and violence against women and girls affects the entire communities, women and girls, men and boys differently.
“No one and no place is immune to this. That is why all hands must be on deck to support families and communities to respond adequately to gender-based violence.
“It is important to raising awareness and sensitization, prioritizing access to health services and information, and changing negative norms and harmful beliefs about gender roles that reinforce the ugly practice,” Tallen said.
The minister maintained that: “You cannot have a conversation about human rights and human dignity without talking about the right of every woman to be free from violence and free from fear.
“When women succeed, Nigeria is safer, more secure, and more prosperous. Over the years, we have witnessed women and girls inspiring communities and the entire country to stand up for freedom and justice,” Tallen stated.
The training which had a panel manned by the representatives of the ministry and civil society organisation enjoined Nigerians to respect the right of the woman to choices especially as it concerns her development.
Members of the Panelist include Abia Udeme Nsikak, Ministry of Women Affairs, Chinyere Eyoh of the Sexual Offences Awareness & Response (SOAR), Initiative and Adenike Ayodele, principal officer, Center for Communication and Social and Social impact.
The panellist who said the issue of strategic communication on gender-based violence was critical in Nigeria to eliminating the trend, said Nigerians, can access the national sex offender register which has recorded only 14 success out of the over 3000 cases the government has in its data bank in all stages of prosecution.
They enjoined participants to the training to eschew already held beliefs and approach the challenge of GBV across the country with a new strategy of knowledge and understanding the issues based on scientific measures adopted to eliminate the trend by 2030.
Nigerian Tribune can report that as part of strategies to combat gender-based violence, the ministry of women Affairs had approached the national assembly with a budget of N283,700,000 to combat cases of gender-based violence in the 2022 fiscal year.
It would be recalled, that this paper, has reported that another sum of N109.5 million has been proposed to fight gender-based violence through domestication and implementation of the Child Rights Act with another N68.1 million to deal with rape cases.
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