An International Non-Governmental Organisation, CARE Nigeria has identified education of the girl child as a factor in ending gender-based violence, female genital mutilation, early marriage, and other forms of harmful practices experienced by girls.
The Organisation said it is also important for judges, community leaders, and law enforcement agencies to understand the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) VAPP Act.
This was made known in Abuja by the Country Director of CARE Nigeria, Dr. Hussaini Abdu during the celebration of International Day of the Girl Child and CARE Day.
Abdu explained that proper understanding and funding of the Act will lead to prompt implementation.
He said: “The north has the highest concentration of out-of-school girls due to culture, poor interpretation of religion, and poverty.
“Studies have shown that some of the development challenges we are dealing with as a nation can be addressed once we invest in girls’ education. As important as building hospitals and other infrastructures is; the preventive measures if put in place will end early marriages, gender-based violence and female genital mutilation.
“So, girl-child education is a very serious issue that we must pay attention to if we want to end FGM, GBV, and early marriages. So, I call on the federal and State governments to put more effort into addressing gender-based violence as we celebrate the International Day of the Girl Child”.
On the implementation of the VAPP Act, Abdu said: “We are seeing a trend where the federal government and states are passing the VAPP Act but we are still seeing gender-based violence, female genital mutilation, and early marriages going on and no one is prosecuted and in cases where they are prosecuted, the speed is very slow.
“The law is not properly followed and we think it is a major concern. If we have the laws enacted, we must make sure that they are also implemented and the only way to implement the law is by funding the law.
“We need strong political will to uphold the law and the punishment for perpetrators. It does not make sense that we pass the VAPP laws and it is not implemented”.
He also called for capacity building for judges, law enforcement agencies, and community members to understand the law.
Abdu said: “We also need to build the capacity of our judges to understand the details of the law and the expectation from them, build the capacity of our communities to appreciate these laws and the law enforcement agencies must also have a better understanding of the law.
