As part of its effort to domesticate the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Act in Yobe state, stakeholders have finally adopted the Bill after due consideration.
The process which was facilitated by FIDA, with support from the Managing Conflict in Northeast (MCN) Programme funded by the European Union (EU) has passed through series of consultations and validation of the contents so as to adequately address peculiar needs of the people of the state.
In his remarks, a member of the State Assembly Committee on Judiciary Hon. Buba Kalallawa described the workshop as apt especially that the VAPP act assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 was key to the prohibition of violence against women.
Kalallawa said, “As you are all aware the issue of rape is becoming so rampant not in Yobe, Nigeria; but the entire world. We in Yobe we feel it is necessary to curtail this menace.”
Speaking during the occasion, the Project Officer of the Managing Conflict in Northeast Barrister Fatima Makinta said the bill when passed will help reduce the violence against women by punishing all perpetrators in the state.
The Bill is aimed at tackling the continuous and persistent increased in cases of abuse especially sexual and gender-based violence which has doubled amid the covid-19 crises.
The new law, if legislated in the state will seek to prohibit and criminalise various acts like rape, physical injury on a person, and emotional, verbal, and psychological abuse and political violence.
The session drew participants from various government ministries, security agencies, civil society organisations, media to review and adopt the Bill, which will now be handed over to the ministry of justice for onward transmission to the state house of assembly for passage.
