By Vivian Okejeme Abuja
The International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) in Abuja seeks media collaboration and synergy in its mandate of promoting and protecting the rights of women and children.
According to FIDA Abuja, with the media in the forefront, they are sure of appropriate visibility to it work and also helping directors to hear the stories that need FIDA’s intervention and attention as it arises.
Chioma Onyenucheya- Uko, FIDA FCT chairperson, made this known at a Media Parley held on Saturday in Abuja.
Representatives of media houses present at the parley unanimously pledged their support and readiness to work with FIDA, urging the executive to be conscious of timeliness and easy accessibility to resource persons.
Addressing the media, she expressed confidence that with the media partly, a forbidable partnership will be formed that will throw focus on the issues that affect women and children and then help combat all discriminatory and abusive practices against them for the wholesome enjoyment of their rights and well-being.
On the issue of rights of women and children and issues around gender-based violence, legal challenges and delay in the prosecution process, she noted the passage of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act.
She posited that FIDA has been in the forefront of such advocacy, and also the use of the law in protecting victims of sexual and gender-based violence.
She explained that the Act which came into being in 2015, towards the exit of former President Goodluck Jonathan, have made provision for protection against victims of violence, even in domestic spaces.
She added that, the Chief Judge of the FCT has also developed a practice direction to help in the implementation of the provisions of the VAP Act.
“FIDA Nigeria Abuja Branch is one of those entities at the forefront of giving effect to the spirit and intentions of the VAP Act using the practice direction. So some of the delays that used to happen in the courts in the adjudication of matters on SGBV has been drastically reduced. Now the timelines within which those such matters can be brought to court, and then the dedication of certain courts towards expeditious discharge of such matters, sorry, expeditious adjudication of such matters, has improved the course of justice generally for survivors of SGBV.”
Therefore, projecting the focus of FIDA FCT in the next three years, Mrs. Onyenucheya- Uko said that her team will leverage on the trainings of paralegals across communities in the FCT, FIDA Abuja by her predecessors.
She, however, hopes to continue to go to some of those communities yet to be reached, create the necessary awareness, more advocacy, for people to be enlightened to able then serve as first responders in the cases where they are not on ground.
“Some of the things FIDA Abuja hopes to achieve in the course of these three years. As now, my predecessors have done a lot in the area of training paralegals across communities in the FCT, because sometimes FIDA herself may not be on ground in some of the rural communities where these things happen in the FCT.
Some of the focus is usually in the city center, which is not quite right.
“Then, we also hope to go to our tertiary institutions where there is faculties of law to ensure that students who are training to become lawyers are enlightened on what FIDA is about, so that they can even start at this in their school to serve also as our paralegals there and then hopefully groom them towards becoming great FIDA’s of tomorrow.
“We’re also going to embark on a lot of trainings to equip our members to be able to respond appropriately to the issues as they arise so that when these issues come, beyond just having those matters go to court, they are handled right, and then the you know, victims of these abuses get the justice they, you know, deserve. Then we’re also looking to strengthen and create new partnerships.”
Concluding, she adviced
women who are victims of gender-based violence to speak up and access ample laws that are available to protect them.
“When they speak up, let them have faith in the law. Sometimes it may not be as fast, justice may not be as fast as they may want it, but they should keep faith because it is better that they get that justice than settling with their abusers who get emboldened to become repeat abusers. “
