Stakeholders in the implementation of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) law were on Tuesday advised to work together if they want the implementation of the law to be effective and seamless.
The Oyo State Technical Partner on VAPP laws, Westminster Foundation for Democracy, gave the advice in Ibadan during a capacity strengthening workshop on effective implementation of the Oyo State VAPP law in Ibadan.
The technical partner stated that if the law must be effectively implemented in Oyo state, key stakeholders, including government ministries and agencies must collaborate, synergise and work together because this is the only way that survivors will get the needed support and perpetrators will get sanctions while reported cases of Gender Based Violence (GBV) will be minimal in the state.
The stakeholders in attendance at the workshop include members of the Oyo State Rapid Response Team domiciled at the Ministry of Women Affairs; Oyo State Sexual and Gender Based Violence Response Team domiciled at the Ministry of Justice, civil society groups and political office holders among others.
The capacity strengthening workshop which held at Bon Hotel, Ibadan was sponsored by Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) with funding by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, UK.
In his welcome remarks, the Country Representative in Nigeria, WFD, Mr Adebowale Olorunmola while harping on the importance of teamwork to achieve an effective implementation of the Oyo State VAPP Law, expressed confidence that all the stakeholders would team up going by the depth of commitment, dedication shown during the processes that gave birth to the law.
“We are very positive that stakeholders are going to work together given the fact that we work with all stakeholders to support the process of the review and passage of the VAPP law.
Every hand was on deck and I think we need to give kudos to everybody, if they didn’t work together in the first place, this would not have been possible and I think this activity is aimed to enable them to build on that, so that they will be able to work more and better together to move the process forward.
“If we do not have synergy between these two very important ministries, among other stakeholders, then we run the risk of duplicating efforts, activities energies and even budgets in the process of implementing the VAPP law and even taking care of survivors of Gender Based Violence.
In their separate goodwill messages, representatives of the Commissioner of Justice/Attorney General and that of the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Inclusion commended the stakeholders for the efforts and commitment at ensuring that the survivor receives needed attention while also ensuring that perpetrators are sanctioned accordingly.
In her goodwill message, Senior Special Assistant to Governor Seyi Makinde on Diaspora, Bolanle commended the stakeholders for seeing through the processes in the interest of the residents who had suffered abuse in anyway and challenged them to do more in the areas of publicity and awareness as a way ensuring that the law is put to use.
“There is the urgent need to carry out rigorous sensitisation programmes in the state to educate both adults and minors on what the law is about and the fines and sentences involved,” she said.
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