By Marie-Therese Nanlong, Jos

Stakeholders in Plateau State have appealed to the state government to, as a matter of urgency, gazette the newly passed Violence Against Persons Prohibition, VAPP, law and establish the Gender Commission to ensure the effective and efficient implementation of laws in the State.

VAPP and GEO bills passed by the state House of Assembly were recently signed into laws by the State Governor, Simon Lalong but require being gazetted and the establishment of the Gender Commission to ensure quality implementation. 

In order to create awareness about the laws, stakeholders gathered for a two-day Knowledge Enhancement Action Learning workshop organized by Women’s Rights Advancement And Protection Alternative, WRAPA, under the project Legal and Social Empowerment Programme on Women’s Rights in Kaduna and Plateau States and funded by the African Women’s Development Fund, AWDF.

Speaking at the event held in Jos, Jummai Madaki, the Plateau State Project Coordinator for WRAPA noted that passing the bill into law is a huge step but the people must understand what it is about and all steps taken to ensure the timely implementation.

She said, “We, in Plateau, are so grateful to the governor for signing the bills into laws, that is, Gender and Equal Opportunity law and the Violence against Persons Prohibition VAPP law.

“However, these laws will remain ineffective until they are gazetted and the Gender Commission is established.

“That is why we are appealing to the governor to take further steps now and give life to these new laws. This Knowledge Enhancement Workshop is aimed at increasing awareness of these laws across the state.

“The laws are just in documents, some people need to get the laws to work. These new laws will be useless if no one uses them. The workshop is creating the channels to take the message to the grassroots.

“Participants in this workshop are lawyers, judges, media practitioners, Civil Society Organisations, security agencies, magistrates, civil servants, politicians, religious leaders, community leaders, etc. 

“All these stakeholders need to be equipped with the contents of these laws section by section and they will further take the message to the grassroots.

“The support to the process requires the contributions of critical state and non-state actors, making informed contributions on ending gender-based violence in Plateau State through popular collective action.”

Also, the Director, Planning, Research and Statistics in the State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Sunday Dombin, reiterated the urgent need for action saying, “if the laws are not gazetted, the whole thing would just end on paper.

“We have run the advocacy for the GEO law for 13 years while that for the VAPP has been on since 2016. Therefore, it would be an effort in futility if the law is not put to proper use.

“This is why it is very important that the people, most importantly, those at the grassroots get informed of the contents of the law.

“That is why we have the enlarged participation of stakeholders who would help in passing the message to the people.”

Earlier, the Senior Programme Officer of WRAPA, Mohammed Maifada lamented that despite increased commitments to promote women’s rights, gender-based violence continues and maintained that the laws are meant to strengthen the fight against gender-based violence and the event was to fashion out effective ways to implement the laws.

A facilitator, Lyop Rwang who is a Deputy Director in the State Ministry of Justice, interpreted the various sections of the laws which seek to eliminate all forms of violence against persons.

She reminded participants that the punishment for rape is life imprisonment without any option of fine and urged them to develop an action plan for the effective implementation.

A participant, Charles Dickson called on the government to leverage the media to drive the process and ensure the provisions of the laws are understood even at the grassroots.