Politics
A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Empowering Women for Excellence Initiative (EWEI), with the support of UN Trust Fund, has organised a community sensitisation seminar for men on Gender-Based Violence (GBV).
The NGO, under its Our Safe Spaces (OSS) project, conducted the seminar for men on Thursday in Unguwan Romi and Unguwan Dosa communities in Kaduna.
Mr Uche John-Egbe, the senior Programme Officer, Communication and the focal person for the OOS project, said that the event was aimed at enlightening men on GBV, preventive measures and how to respond to it when it occurred.
“As an organisation, we know that 95 per cent of perpetrators of GBV are men and boys and that is why we are sensitising them to support the women and the girls.
“We believe if they are informed now they can support us and together we can kick against GBV and all forms of exploitation in our communities’’, he said.
John-Egbe pointed out that the participants at the seminar were related to some of the female beneficiaries who were earlier trained “as it is believed that the perpetrators are mostly people that know the victim’’.
Earlier, Mr Benjamin Yunana-Maigari, a gender specialist, said that GBV was mostly perpetrated due to traditional practices and not because of religion, as the two major faiths in Nigeria preach love and respect.
He added that GBV was not limited to sexual violence, as favouring sons over daughters was another form of GBV because the latter would be deprived of their basic rights, such as education.
Yunana-Maigari stated that Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), forced marriage, physical and sexual abuse were popular GBV practices in Nigeria.
He urged the participants to allow their daughters, wives and sisters to be educated and to engage entrepreneurship, so as to contribute to nation building.
Meanwhile, some participants at the seminar expressed their appreciation for the sensitisation programme, saying it was an eye opener.
Umar Tanimu, a traditional title holder in Unguwan Dosa community, said that the seminar was timely and educative, adding that he had learnt about the laws put in place to prosecute GBV perpetrators.
“As a traditional leader, I would enlighten my people, especially in mosques and other places of worship’’, he said.
Another participant, Rev. Steven Samson-Ibrahim, said that he had learnt more about GBV and would educate his church members and people in the community.
NAN
Feb. 26, 2021 @ 09:59 GMT
Tags: NGO sensitises men on gender-based violence
