By Emmanuel Enebeli
ASABA/Nigeria: There had been a call for public enlightenment on the Law on Violent Against Persons Protection Act, VAPP, in Delta State to make the existence of the law a household name in the state, in order to prevent further violence against the vulnerable, especially women and the girls.
At Consultative Meeting organised by Nigerian Feminist Forum, NFF, in conjunction with Delta based Koyenum Immalah Foundation, KIF, on Friday, December 11, 2020, at Orchids Hotels, Asaba, stakeholders agreed that without public knowledge, the people will not be aware of the existence of the law, and their rights, as enshrined in the Act on the steps to get justice.
Speaking at the side of the event, the Coordinator of KIF, Hope Nwadishi, who represented the Executive Director, Faith Nwadishi, stated that the organisation, which had been in existence for more than 20 years, speciciliased in the protection of women, girls, and the youths, decided to collaborate with the NFF to bring the existence of the VAPP law to the knowledge of Deltans, as there had been an increase in the number of violence against the vulnerable in the state, especially the women and the girls.
She stated that since Delta State being one of the 18 states to domesticate the VAPP law, the knowledge of its existence should be made known to Deltans, as that will be the only way for the law to be effective, in protecting and preventing all form of violent against women and girls, who the law seek to protect, especially with the rising cases of sexual harassment.
According to Blessing Duru, the National Coordinator, the Nigerian Feminist Forum, NFF, the Consultative Meeting, is aimed at the domestication of the VAPP in the states, to ensure the protection of women and the girls, through strategic actions plans to ensure the domestication in states yet to for better protection of women and girls against sexual and gender based violence.
She stated that collaboration is key, in the ensuring the success of the implementation of the Law in the state, which they only discovered the Delta state House of Assembly passed the Bill into law in July 2020, and was signed into law by the Delta State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa in October 2020.
Duru stated that the overall objective of the NFF’s collaboration with KIF is to identify where the state was currently with the VAPP Bill, the challenges and gaps, and ways the NFF can fast track the domestication of the VAPP and a public sensitization of the bill, but discovered that the state had already done that. She encouraged the various stakeholders present at the consultative meeting to strengthen the implementation of the law, by bringing it to the knowledge of all persons in the state.
The consultative meeting was attended by different Civil Society Organisations, and Non-governmental organisations, State Government Departments involved in implementing the Law, and the media.
Amongst those in attendance is the Executive Assistant to the Delta State Governor, on Girl Child Empowerment, Mrs Bridget Anyaflu.
