By Stanley Onyekwere
In a bid to help mitigate sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO), the Abiodun Essiet Initiative for Girls (AEIG), has trained traditional rulers to combat the menace, in Gwagwalada Area Council, of Abuja.
The NGO explained that the training was aimed at strategically creating more awareness at the grassroots on the menace of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence and its consequences.
Speaking at the event yesterday, the AEIG Executive Director, Abiodun Essiet, noted that strengthening the capacity of traditional rulers to combat all forms of violence, especially those against women and girls was paramount in curbing the act at the grassroot level.
She said: “What we are doing is creating awareness and strengthening the capacity of the traditional rulers in the community on how to curb sexual and gender-based violence.
“And because the traditional rulers are mostly men, we have some of their wives here to share their experiences as well as get the right knowledge to help guide their activities as mothers and wives”.
She urged the traditional rulers to instill the knowledge gained on its followers, especially sensitisation on legal consequences attached to rape, sexual harassment, forced marriage, female genital mutilation, amongst others.
Essiet disclosed that the training would run for two years across the seven area councils in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), adding that “we have a grant to run this training programme for two years across the FCT with the support of MacArthur Foundation.
“We have done the first training in the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) and im Bwari Area Council and we are currently in Gwagwalada and Kuje, next is Abaji and Kwali Area Councils.
“The goal is to equip all the traditional rulers in the FCT on how to address these issues and to also link them with other institutions like the social welfare who offer the same services within the community.
“So they would know where to report these cases and how to follow up to ensure that justice is gotten for the victim and the perpetrator is prosecuted accordingly,” she said.
On his part, District Head Tunja-Maje community in Gwagwalada,
Alhaji Husseini Balarabe, commended the NGO for recognizing the need to train traditional rulers on ways to combat SGBV.
