From Okwe Obi, Abuja
Vice President Yemi Osibanjo, has linked the high rate of gender-based violence to structural inequalities and unequal power relations, which put women and children at disadvantaged position to seek finance, employment and education.
Osibanjo stated this yesterday, at the launch of the USAID Momentum Country and Global Leadership (MCGL) project, in Abuja.
Represented by the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, he said government would institutionalise policies to put an end to problems bedeviling the progress of women.
“As a Nation, we will continue to boldly condemn Gender-Based Violence (GBV), so long as it continues to impact negatively on survivors, victims, families, broader society and economies of Nations.
“From available information, we are more than ever convinced that Gender Based Violence is driven by structural inequalities and unequal power relations that render women subordinate to men, due to limited access to education, employment, finances, healthcare and opportunities to contribute to their families, communities and the nation’s economic growth.
“Our collective resolve to stamp out this evil from our society is our yardstick for supporting the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs as the National Machinery under the dynamic leadership of Dame Pauline K. Tallen OFR, KSG to address the menace from the angle of legislation, Advocacy and Funding.
“It is time we raise up to the challenges posed by this menace and constantly speak out against this evil perpetrated by mindless individuals.
“As such, I want to join my voice to all the voices gathered here today to say no to Gender-Based Violence in Nigeria.”
He, also, recalled that the Federal Executive Council had on 10th June, 2020 unanimously declared zero tolerance against gender-based violence in the country in view of the hues and cries that trailed the unacceptable spike in gender-based violence during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown.
Meanwhile, the United States Chargé d’ Affaires, Kathleen FitzGibbon, disclosed that $15 million investment had been committed to strengthen gender based response mechanisms, help communities transform discriminatory gender and social norms that subordinate women in Nigeria.
FitzGibbon added that, “the new momentum Country and Global Leadership activity administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development will work to increase access to services for survivors of gender-based violence in Sokoto and Ebonyi States that provide them critical relief from domestic and other forms of gender based abuse.”
Minister of Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen, pledged to double her efforts to ensure that the project achieve its desired objectives.