By Chiamaka Ekwuwe

The CLEEN Foundation has urged security agencies, justice actors, and community leaders in Imo to address knowledge gaps hindering the implementation of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Law.

The Executive Director of CLEEN Foundation, Mr Peter Maduoma, made the call on Wednesday in Owerri at a two-day state-level policy dialogue on bridging VAPP Law implementation gaps.

Maduoma said in spite of the established legal frameworks, survivors of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) continue to face barriers in accessing justice, protection, medical care, and psycho-social support.

“Ground-level empirical evidence indicates that the primary driver of this operational failure is a critical knowledge deficit among key sub-national duty-bearers,” Maduoma said.

He said frontline enforcement officers and civil society groups in many states have never physically seen, read, or received formal guidance on the VAPP legislation.

Maduoma explained that the dialogue aimed to improve institutional capacity and foster accountability among stakeholders for a more coordinated, survivor-centred response system.

“The practical effectiveness of these legal provisions depends on the ability of institutions and duty-bearers to understand and perform their respective obligations,” he added.

He disclosed that the intervention, funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the Norwegian Embassy, was currently being implemented across 13 focal states.

According to him, the foundation will distribute copies of the VAPP Law, assess institutional bottlenecks, and support local government actors to establish designated reporting desks.

Maduoma urged participants to draft and sign a state-specific action plan with clear monitoring indicators to ensure effective local-level enforcement across Imo.

In his contribution, the traditional ruler of Umuororonjo Autonomous Community near Owerri, Nze Clinton Uboegbulam, urged the state government to establish a Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC).

Uboegbulam explained that a dedicated centre would streamline victim data collection and enable institutional stakeholders to manage GBV cases efficiently.

“GBV occurs daily, but our ability to effectively handle these cases depends largely on the facilities and procedures we put in place,” Uboegbulam stated.

Also speaking, the Executive Director of Open Arms Initiative, Mrs Juliet Okeihi, noted that the absence of centralised data hindered full implementation of the law.

Okeihi lamented that many law enforcement officers, legal practitioners, and community stakeholders still lacked a comprehensive understanding of the legal instrument.

She commended the dialogue for exposing inter-agency operational gaps and the lack of structured coordination among key duty-bearers in the state.

“The law is in place, but how well are we using the instrument of the law to tackle the cases?” she queried.

On her part, the State GBV Coordinator and Social Welfare Officer, Mrs Amarachi Ekeocha, stressed the need for a functional agency to oversee referral pathways.

Ekeocha expressed concern over prolonged judicial delays, revealing that some rape cases lingered for over five years in spite the law stipulating resolution within three months.

She advocated continuous sensitisation across the judiciary, effective utilisation of the sex offenders register, and stronger collaboration among relevant state actors.

Contributing, the state Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Martins Udoku, disclosed that the state ministry had commenced uploading rape, defilement, and violent crime records onto official registers.

The two-day event drew participants from the Police, Ministry of Women Affairs, Ministry of Justice, NAPTIP, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, traditional rulers, and civil society groups, among others.