From Ighomuaye Lucky, Benin
National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, (NAPTIP), yesterday, said correcting the flaws in the Violence Against Persons Prohibition, (VAPP) Act would help to curb spate of violence in Edo State.
Chief Intelligence Officer, NAPTIP, Benin Command, Mrs. Rosemary Emodogo made the assertion while fielding questions from newsmen at Westminster Foundation for Democracy, (WFD) event held in Benin City.
She said Edo State has domesticated VAPP but due to some flaws in the Act, it has not been fully implemented expressing hope that as soon as the necessary amendments are made in the Act by the State House of Assembly, it would achieve its full potentials.
“Edo State, I know that they have domesticated the VAPP and they have a law on that but because of the flaws they found in it when after they brought it out, they found out that they gave out jurisdiction to the federal high court meanwhile it is a state law. So, they cannot actually implement the law.
“Like what one of my colleagues said here, that they have sent it back to the house of assembly and I think that by the time that they put it together and give jurisdiction to Edo State, I believe that it will work”, Edomogo said.
On the part of the Researcher with Westminster Foundation for Democracy, Mrs. Dorothy Njemanze, the challenges confronting VAPP Act must be addressed by strengthening the instructions that drive the implementations of the Act in the state.
“Challenges we have seen so far, is that there are so many contradictions in the law and that was what prompted the need for it to be reviewed.
“The challenges we are having in the implementation also is that the institutions that will implement, they still need little more strengthening to be able to carry out their implementation.
“Just like every other institutions in the state, they are faced with different challenges and you know the areas that need funding they are not appropriately given, thereby, we discovered that even when people are perpetrating this crime, maybe from the judiciary, they practiced what they called liniency, they have not been able to give the judgement as it were and we believed that if this law is critically looked and examined at and the perpetrators of this evil are punished as it should be, it will serve as a deterrent to others”, Njemanze said.