WFD says VAPP Gazette would drive effective implementation in 12 states

Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) has challenged 12 state governments to Gazette the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Act in their respective States to effectively implement the law for the protection of persons exposed to violence across these states.

Country Representative of the foundation, Adebowale Olorunmola, made this call at a Validation of Policy Briefs/Passage, Assent, Gazetting, Execution (PAGE) analysis meeting in Abuja.

He was represented by Ms Sola Folayan, who told the validation team that the research was an activity under its Global Equality Project (GEP) funded by the Foreign Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO), and seeks to encourage the protection of women and girls in Nigeria using the instrument of the law.

The challenge to the governors followed findings by the research in the 12 focal states on the impact of the VAPP law commissioned across the six Geo-political zones of the country by the World Foundation for Democracy.

The states are Anambra, Enugu, Abia, Akwa Ibom, and Cross River states. The others are Edo states Bauchi, Kaduna, Plateau and Lagos States as well as Osun state and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

IN CASE YOU MISSED THESE FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

Folayan said, “gazetting the law is a necessity, for effective implementation and execution.

“The validation meeting happened simultaneously across the 12 states and had in attendance representatives from the Ministry of Women Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Budget, and planning, SGBV response team and Civil society Organizations.

“WFD believes that the 12 policy brief documents and the PAGE (Passage, Assent, Gazetting, Execution) Analysis scorecard will provide evidence-based information and current state context on VAPP Law, to guide decision-makers in facilitating effective engagement towards successful implementation of the law”.

Program Coordinator, Global Equality Project (GEP), Mrs Edidiong Idang, noted the successes of the GEP project on its first assessment, of the VAPP law since it was ratified in Nigeria in 2005.

Idang also noted the role of the Nigerian Governor’s Wives Forum (NGWF) as one of such organizations of influence to drive the process in their respective member state.

She said the group was being supported to advance sensitization on the law as well as stakeholders’ engagement for the domestication and effective implementation of the law across Nigeria.

According to her, these influencers were identified by the research findings that stakeholders who have high influence and interest in advocating for the implementation of the law in Nigeria should be leveraged upon.

“Advocacy for an inclusive gender-sensitive budgeting should be the focus, now that many states in Nigeria have passed, assented to, gazetted and are executing the VAPP law,” she stated.

Presenting the policy briefs, Lead Consultant on the research Bunmi Dipo-Salami, stressed the need for state governments to allocate budget and establish special courts to effectively implement the VAPP Act, in order to protect the rights of women, girls and vulnerable groups.

She explained that while some states have effectively implemented the VAPP Act, others haven’t shown strong political will towards effective implementation, stressing the need for special courts, where cases can be easily heard to enable quick judgement on violent cases.

Meanwhile, a lawyer and Gender-Base Activist, Ms Brenda Anugwom said during the research in the Federal Capital Territory, it was observed that in the communities where there were less educated women, SGBV was low, while the numbers are high in the city centres where educated women were found.

“Litigation on SGBV is slow and as such, only a few convictions had been made. There is a need for the establishment of a special ‘Human Rights Court’ that would focus only on SGBV and other related sexual abuses.”

Osaretin Osadebamwen