Violence Against Women
Source: Daily Trust
A workshop for media professionals has called on states yet to domesticate the law on violence against persons to do so without further delay.
The participants said this would help to curb any gender-based violence in the country.
They also frowned at states where such laws are in place but inactive, saying it is like not having it at all.
The workshop, organised by the New Initiative for Social Development (NISD) and supported by the Department for International Development (DFID) was to enlist media support in propagating the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act 2015.
In a communiqué signed by Abiodun Oyeleye, the Coordinator of the New Initiative for Social Development, the participants lamented that most states in the Southwest were yet to domesticate the VAPP Act or have state versions of it. Specifically, they mentioned Ogun, Oyo and Ondo states.
The communiqué added, "The statistics of violence against women in Southwest is disturbing and this calls for urgent intervention, lest we all become victims of it."
At the workshop which drew participants from media organizations from Lagos, Osun, Ogun, Ondo, Oyo and Ekiti, it was acclaimed by resource persons that the VAPP Act was a tool for protection against infringement of rights of persons, women in particular, and the communiqué called for a sustained commitment from the media in promoting the Act in their reportage.
By Doyin Adebusuyi