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From Sola Ojo, Kaduna
Following the rising cases of domestic violence and poor implementation of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) law domesticated in Kaduna state in 2018, stakeholders in the administration of justice on Wednesday brainstormed on the hindrances against the full implementation of the law.
Africa Media Development Foundation (AMDF), with support from Rise Up, a project of the Public Health Institute (Johns Hopkins University USA), had organised the one-day brainstorm session as a part of the implementation of a Violence Against Women and Girls project titled, “Advocating for the Prevention of Gender-Based Violence in 12 communities in Kaduna North and Kajuru local government areas of the State.
Welcoming the participants drawn from the gender desk of the Nigerian Police, Judiciary, Ministries of Justice, Human Services and Social Development, gender unit of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, civil society organisations and the media, Executive Director, AMDF, Iliya Kure said, the joint meeting became necessary to identify the gaps and come up with workable solutions towards the implementation of the VAPP law.
He said, “the issue of violence against women and children is our focus because the cases of violence against these groups are exponentially high in our society today.
“The latest trending one is the death of a popular gospel musician, Osinachi Nwachukwu whose husband has been invited by the police for interrogation.
“The truth is there are many cases of violence against women and children without punishment for the perpetrators and reward for the victims or survivors.
“We all know that majority of the perpetrators of these crimes are hiding under religion and culture. But, now that we have the law in place, we need to see what we can do going forward”, he said.
In his part, Benjamin Maigari of Rise Up, noted that based on his organisation’s relationship with the people at the grassroots, “the communities are losing patience with the efficacy of the law because they have not been seeing perpetrators of violence against women and children being brought to book even when they are caught in the act.
The meeting however agreed that there is the need for an aggressive campaign on the implementation of VAPP law in Kaduna state because many of the implementers which are are not even aware of the existence of the law let alone using it to prosecute perpetrators of violence against persons.
