Women Empowerment and Legal Aid (WELA), on Tuesday in Lagos expressed worry about the rise in women’s rights’ violation in the country.

WELA stated this during a walk to mark the International Women’s Day.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the women walked from the Ikeja High Court complex to Allen Roundabout also in Ikeja.

Speaking on the occasion, a lawyer and founder of the group, Mrs Funmi Falana, noted that in spite of the Child’s Rights Law which stipulates a seven-year jail term for offenders, cases of violation of women’s rights were still on the increase.

She said:“Recently, we had the case of Ese Oruru who was forced into marriage and two people with similar cases have just contacted our organisation.

“One said her daughter was abducted and taken to Sokoto in 2009, while another said her daughter was taken to Zamfara in 2013.

“These are issues that border on violation of child’s rights; instead of sending these girls to school, they are forcefully married.

“Child marriage is a crime, the laws are available but the fact is that there is no diligent prosecution of such cases.”

Falana called for concerted effort by the government, the Ministry of Justice and the public for the prosecution of offenders and sensitisation of the public.

“We need the Ministry of Justice to do a lot of prosecution.

“The Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) both at the state and the federal levels should show more interest in the area of prosecution of matters involving violation of the rights of women and the girl-child.

“The public should speak out so that NGOs can take up their cases and the judiciary should be more alert,” she added.

“We should take the publicity aspect to the homes of Nigerians and our male children should be trained to respect the rights of their female counterparts.”