Niger First Lady sets up foundation for gender violence victims

From Yakubu Mustapha, Minna.

The Wife of Niger state Governor, Dr. Amina Abubakar Bello, has set up a foundation called ‘Safe Shelter’ to assist victims of gender based violence in the state.
According to the Foundation, Safe Shelter aims to safeguard the lives of victims of gender based violence from their perpetrators and help them in the healing process of their abuse.
The Chief Operating Officer of RAISE Foundation, Mrs Toyin Dawudu made this disclosure during the stakeholders meeting in Women-led Integrated Protection Against Gender-Based Violence (WIPe-GBV) in Niger state.
She said that a woman who is abused cannot heal if she is told to return to the environment where she was being abused as there is a tendency that the abuse may continue.
“Because of the need to keep victims of gender based violence safe from their abusers, RAISE Foundation renovated a safe house for the victim. The operations is under the ministry of women affairs,’ she said.
Tcoyin said that Safe shelter would evacuate the victims from their abusive environment, give them legal aid, counselling, medical services and empower them with various skills.
She stressed the need to do more to exposes cases of abuse, especially as the traditional and cultiral disposition of people to hide the offenders are high in the state.
The Director General, Gender and Domestic Violence Department of the state Ministry of Justice, Barrister Merio Mann callled for parents to stop hiding the perpetrators of gender based violence urging them to be vigilant about their children.
She further added that while so much energy is been placed on sensitizing the girls, the boys should not be left out of the sensitization.
“We need to work towards breaking the culture of silence and stop shielding perpetrators. We also need to change the narratives by including the boys in the sensitization so that they will know what is right and wrong and how to treat the female gender as an equal and not a subordinate that must be dominated upon,’ she said.