Abia Gov’s.Wife, Mrs. Ikpeazu, Wife of Abia D.Gov.Lady Vivian Oko Chukwu and others
The wife of Abia State Governor, Mrs. Nkechi Ikpeazu, has called on governments, the judiciary, civil society organisations, the religious bodies and the family to step up its bid to end violence against women and children.
The Governor’s wife made the call at Michael Okpara Auditorium in Umuahia recently after she joined the National Council for Women Society in collaboration with the Vicar Hope Foundation, Each One Aid One Foundation and The Child Protection Network in a rally round the capital city to advocate for an end to gender based violence.
She said that women and children recently has become targets of all kinds of violence and abuse that is not acceptable in this modern era of human society.
Mrs. Ikpeazu explained that these abuses and violence appears in different ways to include physical, sexual, psychological, rape, paedophile, female genital mutilation, forced marriages, women and child trafficking, domestic violence and others.
The Governor’s wife noted with concern that in spite of the existing laws such as Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act of 2015, to protect the wellbeing of women and children, perpetrators of these act continues their despicable act with impunity, this is why we are calling on governments and other institutions to rise up to the challenges and tamed this monster.
However, Mrs. Ikpeazu made a pledge on behalf of the Vicar Hope Foundation to publish a compendium of laws, statutes and treaties on the rights of women and children for distribution to women folks, and to groups and organisations to continue the advocacy until the scourge is prohibited.
In her address, the state President National Council for Women Society, Mrs. Eunice Nwaigwe, condemned violence against women in its entirety and call for refrain from indulgence in any custom, tradition or religious practices that demeans the women folks.
According to Nwaigwe, “government should as a matter of deliberate policy checkmate violence against women as well as exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate and in accordance with prescribed laws of the land, punish acts of violence against women whether those acts are committed by the state or individuals “.
The state President of NCWS, also charged women to stand up and identify with other women in the fight against gender based violence. The guest lecturer, Ms. Onyinyechi Nwosu, an advocate of women and child rights explained that once women start believing that they are substandard humans, they lost the fight.
She noted that every woman one way or the other has experienced one form of violence or another and therefore call on women to exercise confidence to fight for their rights.
According to her, “no society gets to the top when women are relegated to the background.
In there remarks, the Vice President, Vicar Hope Foundation, the Executive Director, Each-One-Aid-One, Mr. Smith Chukwuma and the State Coordinator, Child Protection Network, Apostle Innocent Akomas, all agreed that a lot of women and children are still being abused today due to big cultural and religious gaps and therefore called for joint efforts to end the scourge.
