Rising cases of gender-based violence in FCT worrisome – Mandate Secretary

 

The Mandate Secretary for Women in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Adedayo Benjamins-Laniyi, has expressed concern over the increasing cases of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in the nation’s capital, FCT.

She also decried the challenges associated with reporting incidents of GBV and the difficulties in raising awareness about it.

Benjamins-Laniyi stated this while speaking with journalists after a meeting with On Air Personalities (OAPs), influencers and some media personalities in FCT ahead of her plans to and activities for a 16 days Activism against Gender Based Violence expected to kick off on November 25, 2023.

She said 10 days ago, the number of reported cases of GBV in the FCT was less than 2,000, but just in the last count on Wednesday November 22, 2023, the number surged to 2,344 reported case.

She said the FCT Social Development Secretariat on her first day of assumption of work in her assignment, hosted the presentation of the National Dashboard of GBV to Wives of the Royal Fathers in the FCT and wives of Local Government Chairmen and the result was something to worry about.

Benjamins-Laniyi said the FCT wanted to use the National Dashboard to bring the awareness of the underreporting and state of crisis in the communities and six area councils to the wives of the Royal Fathers and Council Chairmen.

“We are a cosmopolitan and as well as a very interesting indigenous community, and in the Palaces of our Royal Fathers they have cases every day, some are so challenging that even how to bring it to the fore for the police to intervene is often challenged.

“So now, the ingenuity of the Department of the FCT Gender Based Violence Focal person was to create this engagement and let them see that this is not good enough, that if we trigger consciousness within you, then as mothers in those communities, you will do something.

“For me, it also became a trigger and a clear dashboard for my own inaugural assignment,” she said.

She, however, said FCT Women, adolescent girls, children and persons with disabilities within the classification of the vulnerable group is a targeted indices fall under her purview for intervention and subvention.

Meanwhile, she disclosed that FCT minister, Nyesom Wike, his Women Affairs counterpart, Uju Kennedy-Ohaneye, the Senator representing FCT, Ireti Kingibe, and the Commandant General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Ahmed Abubakar Audi, are among the dignitaries expected at the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence (GBV) ‘5km Orange Walk/Run.’

The event is scheduled for Saturday, November 25, 2023, starting from the Eagle Square, Abuja. The 16-day event, running from November 25 to December 9, 2023, will include interactive sessions with stakeholders across the six Area Councils of the FCT.

Themed “Invest To Prevent Violence Against Women and Children,” the event is a global call to action, emphasizing the need to give a voice to the voiceless, including men who may be experiencing physical abuse from their spouses.

Benjamins-Laniyi called for media support, emphasizing the crucial role of the media in reporting and advocating for those facing various forms of violence, as well as people living with disabilities (PWDs).