Abia State Governor’s wife, Mrs. Nkechi Ikpeazu, has raised alarm over the increase in a global scale in sexual violence, child abuse and violence against women and the girl child.
Mrs. Ikpeazu, raised the alarm calling on more people and civil group to join the fight against gender based violence when a coalition of Abia Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development with the Gender Based Violence Technical Group/Response Committee end their protest against rape in the state government house today.
The Governor’s wife who was represented by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Women Affairs, Mrs. Beauty Odikwa, said, the action of the women who embarked on protest to register their grievances are commendable and added more voice and energy to the fight against gender based violence.
According to her, “apart from the walk, I also want to encourage you to do more by engaging directly with the stakeholders”.
This, she explained mean meeting with people who have direct impact in the society like religious leaders, opinion molders, traditional rulers and others.
However, in the course of addressing the root cause of these abuses, which sometimes border on poverty and displacement, we have built over 84, houses for indigent widows and families, providing economic empowerment for over 2,000 women and at the same time set up a gender based violence response desk and hotlines for victims of rape and domestic violence to find help at any time.
Earlier, the leader of the coalition and permanent secretary ministry of women affairs, Mrs. Onyinyechi Nwachukwu, said that they embarked on protest because they observed that rape and other vices against women are on alarming rate hence the protest to rally relevant agencies and government to end the menace.
She explained that in most cases perpetrators of these abuses are set free due to lack of policy direction to deal with the menace.
She however, called on government to take action against the perpetrators while encouraging victims of rape to speak out to overcome the pain and trauma inflicted on them.
