Bisi Fayemi, wife of Ekiti state first lady, has asked the Federal government to declare a state of emergency on sexual violence in Nigeria. She made the appeal at the 20th anniversary of Project Alert on Violence Against Women in Lagos.
Mrs Fayemi said the declaration would bring about the political will to fight the scourge and would also enable the states that had passed the law on Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act, to implement the law to the fullest.
“It has taken a long time but we have some laws in place. We have the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act VAPP, and out of the 36 States of Nigeria, only 11 States have domesticated this law. Even for those who have domesticated the law, there is an issue of resources. We are talking about financial resources, human resources, materials resources, as well as technical resources.
We do need resources to push these issues through but we need the political will to drive the allocation of those resources. I will like to lend my voice to the voice of all the feminist organizations, human rights and civil society organizations in the country, calling for more attention to what has now become a national pandemic of gender-based violence, particularly sexual violence. In my own opinion, I believe we need the State of Emergency in Nigeria on sexual violence in particular. I think we need to call for more political will and that will hopefully drive things such as ensuring that those States who have passed the VAPP Act can implement it to the fullest, at least try their best. I will like to call for political will, I will like to call for resources and I will like to also call for a lot more partnerships and information sharing” she said.
