From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
The Bayelsa State Government has reiterated its support for efforts to curb violence against women in the state.
The state government stated this at the inauguration of the national leadership of the Association of Women Against Gender Based Violence (AWGBV) groups in Yenagoa.
The Special Adviser to Governor Douye Diri on Women in Politics, Bibian George, assured them of Diri administration’s support towards the fight against gender-based violence.
She said the state would support all initiatives that tend to curb incidences of violence against women in the state.
She urged them to ensure that the issues of mentorship of the next generation of the girl-child are included in their activities, stressing that when the girl child is properly mentored, the awareness on contentious issues that leads to violence is reduced.
On his part, Justice Ebiyerin Omukoro, who administered the oath of office on the national and state executives, charged them to see their new appointment as an additional challenge to work with other women’s organisations, the state and federal government in their bid to stamp out cases of violence against women.
Justice Omukoro noted that the challenge was enormous but expressed confidence in the ability of the leadership led by Dr Dise Ogbise Goody-Harry to tackle it headlong.
He decried the rampant cases of violence against women and assured the group of all necessary support in curbing it.
Dr. Goddy-Harry noted that the organisation would be committed to exploring preventive measures in addressing GBV cases which shall also include women’s empowerment initiatives.
She pointed out that the organisation aims to work with other gender based organisations and the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), the Police, and other stakeholders to reduce the impact of gender-based violence and empower women in the state.
In her remarks, the first vice president and the state chairman of the Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN), Amalate Ann Jonathan Obuebite, pointed out that investigations had revealed that some of the violations were because of poor economic conditions.
She, therefore, assured that the association would also toe the line of ensuring that women are empowered with proper education, entrepreneurial skills and economic empowerment to give women in the state economic freedom to emancipate them from violence.