Group berates violence against women

A non-governmental organisation, the Women Empowerment and Legal Aid (WELA) has kicked against abuse and violation of woman in the country as the world celebrate International Women Day.

Founder of the group, Mrs. Funmi Falana, on Tuesday, disclosed at a rally organised to mark women’s day, that in spite of the Child’s Right law which stipulates seven years jail term for offenders , the rate at which cases of violence against women is still on the high side.

At the rally which took off at Oba Adejobi Road, Ikeja, the Lagos State capital, Mrs. Falana said there were so many cases of violation against women and children that were yet to be prosecuted.

According to her, “Recently, we had the case of Ese Oruru who was forced into marriage. About two other people just contacted us for other cases. One said her daughter was taken to Sokoto in 2009 while another said her daughter was taken to Zamfara in 2013,”she said.

“These are issues that bothers on violation of child’s right. Instead of sending them to school, they take them to man’s house. The child’s marriage is a crime. The laws are there but the fact is that in the prosecution of such cases, people are not faithful.” She added.

Mrs. Falana also averred that efforts must be made by government, Ministry of Justice, and the public through prosecution of offenders and sensitisation of the public.

“There is need for the Ministry of Justice to do a lot of prosecution. The Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) both at the state and Federal level to show more intent in the area of prosecution. The public should speak out so that organisations can take up their cases. The judiciary should be more alert and do the needful,” she said.

“The awareness on women violation should be made public to all home of Nigerians. Our female children needs to be trained on the respect of their right as female”.