Follow Us on Google
From Scholastica Onyeka, Makurdi
Worried by the spate of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in the state, Benue State Governor, Rev Fr Hyacinth Alia, has disclosed that his administration is working expeditiously to establish family courts in the state.
Alia stated this at a consultative session with stakeholders on women inclusion organised by the Nigeria League of Women Voters (NILOWV) with support from Palladium and USAID-Scale, in Makurdi.
Governor Alia who was represented by the Director-General (DG) International Cooperation and Development, Mr Leo Viashima, said the courts would address the pressing need to curtail cases of SGBV in the state.
He also assured of inclusion of substantial representation of women in critical decision-making facets of his administration.
The governor said he is aware of the manifold advantages the state could reap from a more equitable representation of women within his governance structures.
“It is an undeniable fact that the incidence of sexual and gender based violence, can be significantly reduced when we empower capable and dedicated women to occupy key positions in our government,” Alia said.
He further disclosed that his administration was expeditiously working to address the immediate and pressing need for the establishment of family courts in the state.
“We welcome your invaluable inputs and insights through the International Cooperation and Development Coordinating Unit, as this process unfolds.”
He appreciated the invaluable contributions of the development partners for their steadfast support of development initiatives in the state just as he acknowledged NILOWV and Palladium, in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), for their unwavering commitment to the SCALE Project, which had facilitated the crucial consultative engagement.
Earlier, the Deputy Speaker, Benue State House of Assembly, Mrs Lami Danladi, said she became a member of the assembly and subsequently the deputy speaker due to the efforts, awareness, resource mobilisation and demands for women inclusion in political leadership and decision making by the Civil Society Organisations and development partners.
Danladi promised to use her position to champion and push for legislations that would yield the desired gender or women transformative change.
“I believe that gender and transformative change are pathways to address injustices and violent acts meted to women such as SGBV,” she said.
She further pledged that she would support and lobby her colleagues at the Assembly to review critical legislation in favour of women and the girl-child.
