A couple of residents of the Gadan Maiwa community in Ningi Local Government Area of Bauchi state have commended an NGO, Women and Children’s Rights and Empowerment Foundation (WCREF) for sensitizing them on Gender-Based Violence (GBV).
They made the commendation in separate interviews with newsmen in the community on Wednesday during a One-Day Sensitisation Training and Reporting on Gender-Based Violence using referer pathways in the North-East.
One of the residents, Hafsat Ya’u, said that the sensitisation was very important to the people of the community especially women, where Gender Based Violence, most especially rape is on the high side.
She said, “Our children, sisters, and even elders are being raped almost on a daily basis, either on their way to farms or somewhere that is a bit quiet, and nobody is taking any action on it.
“That’s why most of them prefer to keep quiet about it and let the matter go. We thank God that they brought this programme here, and the founder also promised us to be taking such cases up to a concluding end,” she said.
In his contribution, another resident, Isage Suleiman, said that the ‘life-saving’ programme came at the right time for the community.
According to him, the people now have the confidence to approach the foundation to help them take up a case to a logical conclusion.
He stressed that “Before the coming of the programme, rape cases were on the high side, and even recently, we have two cases of rape, and we have handed the cases to Barrister Abdu already to help us take them up.”
“May the Almighty Allah continue to help her and whoever is behind this foundation so as to continue to help the less privileged,” he prayed.
Also, Abubakar Tela, Gadan Maiwa community Leader, explained that there was a problem of GBV in the community, adding that the programme is a blessing to the community as many people had been sensitised on how to address it.
He called on other Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to emulate the foundation and bring to the people, especially the less privileged programmes that would be beneficial to them.
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In her address, Barr. Mariam Abdu, the Executive Director, WCREF, said that the foundation selected the community having realised that there had not been much training on GBV in the area, hence, were suffering in silence.
“We are here to empower them to make them know that if you have been raped or knows anybody that has been raped, don’t suffer in silence and don’t keep it to yourself.
“I will actually be standing for them if the case arises and we have created a coalition of able bodied people who have different positions like the Civil Defence, Police, Lawyers and others.
“I want them to know that they are not alone, we are behind them 120 per cent as there are laws, policies that back them and It’s time for us to not shy away from things that are not our faults, it’s time for us to speak up and get justice,” she advised.
On his part, Mr Abdulsalam Ridwan, Head of Programme, WCREF, explained that the foundation had been in existence since 2018 and had been conducting Sensitisation on GBV in the North-Western part of the country.
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