Aisha Buhari joins fight against Gender-Based Violence

The wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, has called for adequate funding and the harmonisation of existing laws to incorporate emerging issues in the fight against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in Nigeria.

She made the call at an interactive forum on GBV hosted by the Nigeria Governors Wives Against Gender-Based Violence (NGVA- GBV), the UN/ Spotlight initiative, and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF).

She was represented by the Minister of Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen.

Buhari commended governors for declaring a state of emergency against GBV in June.

She said, “I want to thank your excellences for improving the situation of Nigerian women and children through laws, policies, and mechanisms that seek to promote women’s human rights, which you all remain our driven force at the state level in this struggle.

“But, as Oliver Twists, our concern is funding and harmonisation of existing laws to incorporate emerging issues as they reflect in different states,” she said.

Buhari expressed her commitment to working with the governor’s wife in the fight against GBV in the country, adding that one of the outcomes of their partnership was the interactive programme.

The Wife of Ekiti State Governor and Chairperson of NGWA- GBV, Bisi Fayemi, lamented increased cases of gender-based violence in Nigeria in recent time.

She noted that the COVID-19 and the lockdown worsened the situation as the rate of violations increased exponentially.

She stressed the need to scale up multi-dimension approaches and strategies in combatting all forms of gender-based violence in the country.

She listed cultural norms, altitude and believe that promote physical, sexual and economic violence, as well as lack of access to justice, nonexistence or poor facilities, and economic disparity as factors promoting GBV.

Fayemi said that NGWA- GBV formed by a group of 25 governors wives in June 2020 had recorded a lot of achievements, including the declaration of a state of emergency for GBV in Nigeria by the governors on June 10.

She said the association had also scale up advocacy for the domestication of VAPP Act 2015 and the Child Rights Act.

She said that since June when the state of emergency was declared against sexual and gender-based violence, six states had domesticated VAPP Act 2015.

The states, according to her, are Delta, Bauchi, Akwa Ibom, Kwara, Abia, and Niger, adding that the legislation is in advanced stage in several states.

She expressed hope that more states would domesticate it before the end of the year.

The United Nations Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, said the declaration of emergency on GBV was an indication of what women could achieve working together