The Niger state government has promulgated a law which proscribed three years jail or N200, 000 fine for any man or woman convicted of physical bartering of his or her spouse in the state.
The director, Planning Research and Statistics, Niger state Ministry of Women Affairs, Mrs Mary Yisa, disclosed this in Minna, Tuesday, while speaking with journalists on a robust legal policy and institutional frameworks for addressing Gender Based Violence (GBV) in the state.
She said: “Such violations also include sexual violence, domestic or Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), trafficking, forced and/or early marriage, and other traditional practices that might cause harm.”
She further stated, “The SEASH broadly encompasses physical, sexual, economic, psychological/emotional abuse/violence including threats and coercion, and harmful practices that occur between individuals either at place of work, within families and in the community at large.”
The director said subsisting laws include the Violence Against Person Prohibited Law and Child Right Act, penal code, section 34 of the constitution Federal Republic of Nigeria are enforceable in the state.
“A person who batters his or her spouse commits offence and is liable on conviction to a term of imprisonment not exceeding 3 years or to a fine not exceeding two hundred thousand naira or both,” she said.
Yisa added that subsection 2 provides that a person who attempts to commit the act of violence provided for in subsection(1) of the act commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a term of imprisonment not exceeding 1 year or to a fine not exceeding One hundred thousand naira (N100,000) or both.
