UNFPA, Ministry of Justice sensitise judges on VAPP Law

UNITED Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), in collaboration with the Oyo State Ministry of Justice, has sensitized 70 judges and magistrates on the state’s Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Law.

The Chief Judge of Oyo State, Justice Munta Abimbola, at a two-day the sensitization meeting organised in collaboration with the Centre for Population and Reproductive Health (CPRH), said the State’s VAPP Law is all-inclusive and now criminalizes many conducts in relationships such as forceful ejection of one’s spouse.

According to Justice Abimbola, “it is disturbing that violence against all forms is rampant in the society and that is why when it is passed as a law by Governor Seyi Makinde, its enforcement primarily will lie with the prosecutors, both with the police and the Ministry of Justice. It is what is brought to the court that we will be adjudicated upon.

“The law has a redefinition of so many terms in the criminal law, like rape, assault, battering. The earlier law does not speak much about gang rape. But if you gang rape now, it is life imprisonment.

Director, Centre for Population and Reproductive Health (CPRH), Professor Dosu Ojendegbe, stated that if the meeting will afford the judges the opportunity to give their opinion on the law and ensure its goals, can be achieved when it becomes fully operational.

Professor Ojendegbe said that violence against individuals is on the rise in the country and having a structure in place to tackle it is very important for the betterment of the health and development of Nigerians.

He added, “It is to rise up in defense of human rights and gender equity of individuals; it is to allow people their space within the law and to let them know that they have shoulders to rest upon.”

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