By Peter Okolie
The CLEEN Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, has urged safety companies, justice actors, and group leaders in Imo to handle data gaps hindering the implementation of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Law.
The Executive Director of the organisation, Mr Peter Maduoma, made the decision in Owerri, on Wednesday, on the opening of a two-day state-level coverage dialogue on bridging VAPP Law implementation gaps.
Maduoma defined that the dialogue aimed to enhance institutional capability and foster accountability amongst stakeholders for a extra coordinated, survivor-centred response system.
He mentioned that, despite the established authorized frameworks, survivors of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) continued to face obstacles in accessing justice, safety, medical care, and psycho-social help.
“Ground-level empirical evidence indicates that the primary driver of this operational failure is a critical knowledge deficit among key sub-national duty-bearers,” he mentioned.
He argued that frontline enforcement officers and civil society teams in lots of states had by no means bodily seen, learn, or acquired formal steering on the VAPP laws.
“The practical effectiveness of these legal provisions depends on the ability of institutions and duty-bearers to understand and perform their respective obligations,” he mentioned.
According to him, the muse will distribute copies of the VAPP Law, assess institutional bottlenecks, and help native authorities actors to determine designated reporting desks.
He mentioned that the intervention, funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs by way of the Norwegian Embassy, was presently being carried out throughout 13 focal states.
Maduoma urged members to draft and signal a state-specific motion plan with clear monitoring indicators to make sure efficient local-level enforcement throughout Imo.
In his contribution, the Traditional Ruler of Umuororonjo Autonomous Community, close to Owerri, Clinton Uboegbulam, urged the State Government to determine a Sexual Assault Referral Centre.
Uboegbulam mentioned {that a} devoted centre would streamline sufferer knowledge assortment and allow institutional stakeholders to handle GBV circumstances effectively.
“GBV occurs daily, but our ability to effectively handle these cases depends largely on the facilities and procedures we put in place,” he mentioned.
Also talking, the Executive Director of Open Arms Initiative, Mrs Juliet Okeihi, mentioned that the absence of centralised knowledge was hindering full implementation of the legislation.
Okeihi lamented that many legislation enforcement officers, authorized practitioners, and group stakeholders nonetheless lacked a complete understanding of the authorized instrument.
She counseled the dialogue for exposing inter-agency operational gaps and the dearth of structured coordination amongst key duty-bearers within the state.
“The law is in place, but how well are we using the instrument of the law to tackle the cases?” she requested.
On her half, the State GBV Coordinator and Social Welfare Officer, Mrs Amarachi Ekeocha, emphasised the necessity for a purposeful company to supervise referral pathways.
Ekeocha expressed concern over extended judicial delays, saying that some rape circumstances lingered for over 5 years, despite the legislation stipulating decision inside three months.
She advocated steady sensitisation throughout the judiciary, efficient utilisation of the intercourse offenders register, and stronger collaboration amongst related state actors.
Contributing, the state Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Martins Udoku, mentioned that the state Ministry of Justice had commenced importing rape, defilement, and violent crime information onto official registers.
The two-day occasion drew members from the Police, Ministry of Women Affairs, Ministry of Justice, NAPTIP, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, conventional rulers, and civil society teams, amongst others. (NAN)
Edited by Sam Oditah
