From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi
CLEEN Foundation in collaboration with other stakeholders have commenced work to fine tune Benue State Action Plan which has since expired.
Note that the document which was first prepared to cover the duration of 2021 to 2024, was never implemented by government hence, necessitating a review.
At a validation meeting held in Makurdi attended by Ministry of Women Affairs, Bureau for International Cooperation and Development, BICD Director-General, Budget and Planning Commission Dr Jerome Andohol, security agencies (Police and Civil Defence) Civil societies and non governmental organizations which was facilitated by CLEEN Foundation, funded by Norwegian Embassy and anchored by the State Multi-stakeholders Implementation Monitoring Committee SMIMC for Women, Peace and Security, stakeholders agreed that there is need to review and revalidate SAP to capture new issues as it concern women that are not reflected in the expired document.
Some of the new issues identified include, cases of digital violence, conflict from mining activities in the state, as well as protection issues affecting Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), amongst other issues.
Barr Joseph Gbagyo, Chairman, State Multi-stakeholders Monitoring and Implementation Committee, SMIMC of WPS, said, “Unfortunately, that document (Benue State Action Plan on WPS) was not well implemented and it has since expired. So, it means that women in WPS do not have anything to stand on.
“The essence of this meeting is that you will recall that in 2021, the Benue State Action Plan on WPS was launched with support of International Alert, and the Norwegian Embassy to the State that provided a road map policy on how issues of WPS in women is driven.
“This is one of the structures set up by CLEEN Foundation to drive the implementation of WPS in the state, in line with UN resolution 1325 and it speaks to the issue of women participation, harmful practices against women as well as protection of women, relief and recovery and women who are caught up with conflict. So, the whole essence is to drive inclusivity of women in peace building, security, politics and governance of the state.”
He further noted that “From the review exercise we had and validation today, new issues that emerge like digital violence, conflict from mining activities in the state, protection issues where IDPs have been abandoned, all of these issues, is why we called for the validation on the issues raised for further engagement with development partners.
“Already there is a document in place so we are not writing a new one. We are only improving on the already existing document to incorporate contemporary or emerging issues and from the support we are getting from CLEEN, we are also drawing support to see that at the end this document is properly reviewed.
Also, speaking, Magdalene Igbazua, the CLEEN Foundation, State Lead, explained that the essence of the meeting is to identify the gaps and contextual areas in the SAP
“We are looking at what has changed since 2025 and what are the contextual changes so as to look into it and see how we can reactivate and make this WPS a working document.
“The first gap was that the SAP was never implemented and many stakeholders did not know that the document existed.
“Another gap we noticed is that the context in the state between 2021 to 2024 has changed. From 2021 to 2024, there were issues of COVID-19, but now we do not have them. What we have now is the issue of mining and increased gender violence and rape case across the state; talking about the disability community and the IDPs.
“But then should we make the IDPs to remain in camps? No! We should look at better ways to reintegrate them into their communities by looking at their basic needs. If we have an active action, it will help broaden women involvement in peace and security. It will help to guide how women are involved in decision making.
“In the action plan are the four pillars: participation, prevention, protection, relief and recovery. All these will guide how women are involved in those areas that affect them and how they can prevent any conflict that would affect them in the future”, Igbazua strongly emphasised.
