By Marie-Therese Nanlong

Jos – Leaders of Faith and Culture in Plateau State have advocated intensive awareness, women inclusion, intensive pre-marital counselling, political will and continued advocacy, among other things to enable the society to embrace the implementation of the VAPP and GEO laws in the State.

Recall that the State government had signed into law the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) bill, VAPP and Gender and Equal Opportunities, and GEO bill but they need to be gazetted and stakeholders are calling for the establishment of the Gender Commission for the effective implementation of the laws.

As a part of efforts to ensure the implementation of the laws in the State, an organization, Women’s Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative, WRAPA Nigeria engaged 30 leaders of culture and faith to deepen their understanding of the laws as well as explain the roles they are to play in their implementations.

Speaking at a day engagement meeting held in Jos on Wednesday, the participants noted that there is a low level of awareness and access to model laws that could help punish perpetrators of gender-based violence.

They acknowledged that they are in strategic positions to work with their communities to halt harmful practices against women and girls.

Taking the participants through topics like the role of leaders of culture and faith in the implementation of model laws, the Resource Person, Gad Peter noted, “The faith and culture leaders are very important in influencing people at individual, family, social and community levels. We have different roles to play in response to violence against women and girls, we can guarantee the safety of victims of violence, and guarantee the confidentiality of survivors of VAWG.

“Collectively, we have a responsibility of having equal participation of women, girls, boys and men in the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation initiatives as well as developing a model of community accountability.

“There is, therefore, the need for multisectoral (health, psycho-social support, legal/justice delivery as well as safety and security) responses by community/traditional and faith-based organizations in the promotion of social justice and addressing the issue of discriminatory social norms.”  

The Senior Executive (Admin/Program) of WRAPA, Mohammed Maifada explained that the event sought to “facilitate a community-led and empowered engagement demanding accountability for the implementation of both laws.

“Galvanize community adoption of the VAPP Law & GEO Law in Plateau, enlist the support of leaders of culture and faith in their implementation.”

However, the State Project Coordinator for WRAPA, Jummai Madaki, added “The engagement had 30 participants which included men, women drawn from different cultural and religious backgrounds as well as the media and the expected outcome is to support leaders of culture and faith in the advocacy and sensitization for the implementation of the model laws.”

She added, “Leaders of culture and faith should understand the key provisions and their roles in the model laws and chart effective ways to engender adoption and implementation as well as increase social pressure on the government and key actors in the implementation of the laws.”

Meanwhile, some participants pointed out that even though women constitute huge demography of the nation’s population they are often not represented in the decision-making process because of culture and religious norms hence the laws to create space for women’s inclusion in all facets of life.

They disclosed that in some local government areas of the State, there are concerted efforts to promote the VAPP and GEO laws through their bye-laws to allow safe spaces for women and ensure property ownership by women and this must be consolidated by religious and traditional leaders because support for women is support for society and economic prosperity.

They cautioned against the breeding of chauvinist males by parents, and discriminatory attitudes to domestic chores, as the root cause of most abuses and violence starts in homes before getting to the larger society.

They asked that the laws be simplified and translated into indigenous languages for proper understanding by the locals and clubs should be established in schools to create awareness for the youths.