Stakeholders in the advocacy space demanding decisive action against Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) in Nigeria have called on the government to prepare a policy document to combat the menace.
Speaking at a day-long training on sexual abuse and harassment held in Calabar, social justice activists said it was time to take legislative action to address the situation.
In his opening remarks, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Iwara Iwara, represented by the gender focal officer in the Ministry, Mrs Felicia Ayim said that gender-based violence often leads to health problems for survivors, therefore the Ministry is exploring viable solutions to the challenge.
He called for effective cooperation between stakeholders to directly address existing problems to ensure a better future for women, girls and vulnerable people in society.
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Iwara said the workshop took into account the need to develop a common framework, which would then be presented and adopted by the government to limit and prevent persistent cases of sexual abuse and harassment, including SGBV, statewide.
Regarding existing laws aimed at curbing gender-based violence, Deborah Asuquo of the International Federation of Women Lawyers advocated for a strong education campaign to make citizens and police aware of existing laws, which will speed up the investigation process and ensure conviction.
In her presentation, Mercy Ejini elaborated on the various modes of sexual exploitation and harassment noting that concrete measures need to be adopted to check the excesses of perpetrators. Also, one of the activists, William Arikpo sued for a seamless reporting route to guarantee a prompt response from intervention service to mitigate collateral damage
Participants at the training workshop, comprising civil society, religious, traditional and youth organizations, agreed to call for an appropriate national policy framework to address the prevailing challenges.
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