A non-governmental organisation, Women’s Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC) has urged states across the federation to develop a practicable action plan towards ending violence against women within their jurisdictions.
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The organisation made the call at a two-day workshop tagged, ‘Costed Action Plan on Ending Violence Against Women’, in Lagos, which attended by state and non-state actors from state Ministries of Budget and Planning, Women Affairs and Social Development as well as Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) across the six-geopolitical zones.
The workshop was organised by WARDC in partnership with the African Women Development Fund. According to the Executive Director, WARDC, Dr Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, the absence of a ‘Costed Action Plan’ has heavily hindered the implementation of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act across the country.
“This is a civil society initiative to ensure that the VAPP Law is not just passed but also implemented.
“The project, for now, is targeted at nine states, including Ebonyi, Borno, Ogun, Kwara, Osun, Lagos, Adamawa, Cross-River and Sokoto. Cross-River and Sokoto states have already adopted and signed to the plan,” she revealed.
Akiyode-Afolabi noted that the essence of the action plan was to ensure that there are resources as well as multi-sectoral coordination towards an effective implementation of the VAPP law.
“There is a Victim Fund in the law that is not adequately funded and there are things the government is supposed to do, as well as institutions it is required to set up. Hence, enforcement agencies such as the police have not delivered on expectations. If we do not have a plan, proper implementation might be difficult.
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“The Costed Action Plan is here to end poor implementation; to foresee the things that are needed to ensure efficiency. Most of the states that have committed to the plan have not really invested much, with the exception of Lagos State which has a specific agency,” she said.
She added that without a plan, the burden of implementing the VAPP law and fighting any case of gender-based violence goes back to the victim who is sadly at the receiving end of all forms of violence.
Lead facilitator at the workshop, Oluwatoyin Ilesanmi, who is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Gender, Humanitarian and Development Studies, Redeemers University, Osun State, while addressing the participants, urged the states to have plans for the implementation of the law.
She said: “Beyond having laws, it is important for us to bring before our various state governments action plans that have financial costs attached to them, such that the Ministry of Finance can help in pushing the funding for all sectors.
“Other nations have in recent years keyed into the Costed Action Plan strategy and it has been effective in curbing various issues. Ending all forms of violence against women, girls and all other vulnerable persons in our society requires a holistic effort from everyone, including state and non-state actors.”
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