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From Jude Owuamanam, Jos
The International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) has said that it’s totally committed to deploying its Pro bono services in the fight against gender based violence (GBV) and enhancing gender human rights (GHR).
Chairperson of FIDA in Plateau State, Obioma Ngozi Achilefu, made the commitment when a delegation from the Global Fund C19RM Project, led by the Senior Programme Officer, Peter Ezekiel, paid an advocacy visit to her office in Jos.
She affirmed their commitment to fighting for women and children in the state under voluntary context as this is what FIDA represents globally.
Achilefu expressed surprise that GBV is not only limited to women and children, but also men.
“We have seen instances where women abuse their husbands and such cases are reported to us. We have handled difficult cases of where a police man abused his police wife. In such cases what do we do. How do we deal with the husband. These are some of the difficult challenges we face in FIDA.”
She applauded the team for what they have been doing on the project adding that the learnings provided by the project which she has been privileged to attend during their coordination meetings were wonderful and equipping.
The chairperson said, “FIDA is always ready to partner with the Team in addressing GBV Cases and will continue to provide legal guidance to the team and clients to ensure that we maintain a sane society where justice prevails even for the most vulnerable of our society.
Speaking earlier while outlining the objectives of project, the Senior Programme Manager, Peter Ezekiel, said that Global Fund C19RM Project,is out to address gaps identified in the Global Fund Supported Health Facilities such as the Primary Health Centres and Health Centres across Nigeria.
Ezekiel emphasize the role of FIDA in ensuring that vulnerable population who are mostly at risk can be support through Pro Bono service.
He also, emphasize that most of the reported cases are those that affects women and children, hence the need to find common grounds with FIDA so that those women can earn justice even though they can’t afford normal legal services.
He said that the project also seeks to addressing some of the aftermath issues created by COVID-19 some of which include the spike in Gender Based Violence and Gender Human Rights Violations.
Ezekiel said that Plateau State is one of the privileged states among the 21 States currently implementing the grant.
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He said, “The AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (ATM) Networks are being used by the Principal Recipient, NACA, to implement the community component as Technical Service Organisations (TSOs) using their community members across the implementing state so that grassroots engagement is possible.
“In Plateau State, the project is being implemented in 5 LGAs (Barki Ladi, Riyom, Pankshin, Mikang and Shendam) by 15 Community Based Organisations from the ATM networks and being coordinated by TB Network.
“Part of the design of the project is the constitution of State Advocacy Team (SAT) who are expected to engage high level government stakeholders and key partners on issues identified from the communities both structural and abuse and rights violations.
The programme officer implored FIDA to look into the case of a woman who’s widowed with Two girl children and her late Husband’s Younger decided to collect all properties of her husband from her without any means of her children’s upkeep
The team also paid advocacy visit to the office of Director Public Health, Dr. Mafwalal Bush Masok to follow up on the issue of unknown death hiting mothers of new born children at Yelwa East Shendam as reported by the Joy Support Group, one of the CBOs implementing the grant at the Ward currently.
The State Programme Officer of the Project,also request that the project team lead be added to the State Technical Working Group and Partners Directories to enable sharing of best practice field experiences with the state and other IPs in the state which the Director said he will see to that.
Among the delegation to FIDA were the TB Network Coordinator of Plateau State, Mancha Daniel Bature, Chairman of ACOMIN, Dr. Peter Maji,
