STAKEHOLDERS drawn from both cultural and faith-based setting in Jos, who have put their heads together to deliberate on the implementation of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Model Law and Re-passage of Gender and Equal Opportunity (GEO), have unanimously thrown their weight behind the submission of WRAPA.
This position came up when the Women’s Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative (WRAPA) with the support of AWDF, organised a two-day town hall meeting aimed at creating more awareness and increasing the knowledge of relevant stakeholders, held at the conference hall of City Lodge Hotel Jos, the state capital.
Declaring the two-day meeting open, the Senior Programme Officer of WRAPA, Muhammad Ibrahim Mifada, said they have trained religious and community leaders and would want to hear from them their resolutions as stakeholders who were directly involved in the implementation of VAPP Law.
He commended the commitment of the religious and community leaders in trying to settle VAPP issues and implored participants to throw away any religious or ethnic sentiments that might arise when there were conflicts and treat it as a deliberate action of the enemies of Plateau.
Mifada, said, “One of the objectives of the programme was to drive the implementation of innovative strategies or action plans earlier committed to by the state and non-state actors on the implementation of VAPP Law in Plateau State and to intensify efforts and increase pressure on the state government for the re-passage of the Plateau State GEO Bill”.
Responding, His Royal Highness, Sarkin Mista-Ali (District Head), Danladi Akinga Kasuwa, of Bassa Local Government Area, Plateau State, called for the availability of the law so that it would help them rely on it when issues of Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) appeared before them.
He said, “It was because of this that I have appointed two women leaders, one each from the Christian and Muslim, in my cabinet so that women issues can be handled by them. We know it will reach a point where the court and police will refer some of these cases to we the community and religious leaders because we live with them”.
On her part, the Plateau State Director of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mrs. Karen Tabetha Pam-hworo, said the law has a positive purpose and should not be abused. She called on the community and religious leaders to put pressure on the 10th Assembly in the state for them to pick up the re-passage bill before the Plateau State House of Assembly.
It would be recalled that Governor Simon Bako Lalong, of Plateau State has on May 19, 2022, signed into law the VAPP Law and directed for re-passage of Gender and Equal Opportunity (GEO) Law by the two-third majority of the House of Assembly members. However, women leaders from the two-faith promised to stepdown the awareness to members in their localities.
