IN COMMEMORATION OF THE 2020 INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR THE ELIMINATION OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN CONFLICT; KWARA FIRST LADY ADVOCATES FOR THE ERADICATION OF ALL FORMS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE.
Kwara First Lady and founder, Ajike People’s Support Centre, Her Excellency Dr. Mrs Olufolake AbdulRazaq has reiterated that her office and the Ajike People’s Support Center were engaging relevant stakeholders through sensitization and advocacies to rid the society of rape and sexual violence.
AbdulRazaq said this while speaking at a sensitization walk against rape and sexual violence in Ilorin on Wednesday, as part of activities commemorating the 2020 International Day for Elimination of all forms of rape and sexual violence in conflict which is held annually on June 19.
As the mother of the state and now secretary to the Nigerian Governors Wives Against _Gender Based Violence the First lady is advocating for the eradication of the scourge of rape and gender based violence in the state and the country at large and for all outstanding laws that can help genuine rape cases to be convicted speedily to be passed. She further called on all related agencies to work together in order to make a big impact in this quest to rid the country of such heinous acts.
The first lady said that victims of rape are human beings adding that rape was evil and its perpetrators must be punished.
“Let us support community efforts to stop the barbaric and criminal activities of rapists”, she said.
The walk and sensitisation exercise was in collaboration with the National Orientation Agency(NOA).
In his address, the State Coordinator of the NOA, Mr Olusegun Adeyemi said that the rising cases of sex and gender based violence in the nation was worrisome adding that the agency was committed to sensitising the public on the social ill of rape and sexual violence.
“We will be sensitizing the citizens with this walk. It is saddening that as reported by the Nigerian Police, that between January and now, we have received not less than 717 rape cases in our nation and these are the ones that get reported to the police.
“We want to call on all stakeholders, our women, our children, our fathers to scale up our enlightenment, scale up our sexual education, scale up our sensitisation at our homes, our offices, our markets.
“Unfortunately schools are not open now, that is another area where we need to do more work in our schools but we are provided with this privilege today in Kwara to mark the 2020 International Day for Elimination of Rape and Sexual Violence in Conflict on June 19.
“So while we maintain social distancing and the use of face masks we are going to walk in advocacy for the elimination of rape and sexual violence”, he said.
The Commissioner for Social Development, Mrs Abosede Aremu said that the government was not happy with the situation of rape and sexual violence in the nation as it was fast becoming rampant.
“The office of the first Lady as well as the ministry of social development cannot fight this evil alone so we want all civil societies, NGOs, and stakeholders join hands with us in making sure that rape and sexual violence is eliminated in our society.
“It is not only sexual violence that is rampant these days, we have human trafficking, child abuse all of which must be eliminated.
“And we can achieve this only if the necessary laws are implemented, it is not that there are no laws, but they must be implemented accordingly, so that the perpetrators of these evils will be brought to justice”, she said.
The walk started from the Kwara State Banquet Hall, to Challenge bus station through the Post Office and Central Bank of Ngeria and through Offa Road.
Present at the walk were the Commissioners for Sports, Social Development, Tertiary Education, Finance and Special Duties.
Joining in the walk were the Deputy Commissioner of Police in Kwara, Rotimi Adelesi who represented the Commissioner of Police, Assistant Corps Commander Nasiru Mohammed who represented the Kwara Federal Road Safety Corps Sector Commander.
Officers of the NSCDC, FRSC, EFCC, Fire Service, NAWOJ, FIDA, FOMWAN were also represented at the walk.
