From Yakubu Mustapha Minna
Niger State Government has concluded plans to convict any person who batters his or her spouse to a 3 years term of imprisonment in the state.
The Director, Planning Research and Statistics, Niger state Ministry of Women Affairs, Mrs Mary Yisa disclosed this while speaking to Journalists on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse/Sexual Harassment (SEASH) in Minna.
Mrs Yisa revealed that the state currently has a robust legal policy and institutional frameworks for addressing Gender Based Violence (GBV).
She said such violations also include sexual violence, domestic or Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), trafficking, forced and/or early marriage, and other traditional practices that might cause harm”.
The director hinted that, subsection 2 provides that “a person who attempts to commit the act of violence provided for in subsection(1) commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a term of imprisonment not exceeding 1 year or to a fine not exceeding One hundred thousand naira (N100,000) or both.
Yisa further explained that such spouses have options of N200,000 fine, Yisa said “the SEASH broadly encompasses physical, sexual, economic, psychological/ emotional abuse/violence including threats and coercion, and harmful practices that occur between individuals either at place of work, within families and in the community, at large”.
According to her, “Niger State has robust legal, policy and institutional frameworks for addressing GBV, which include the Violence Against Person Prohibited Law and Child Right Act, penal code, section 34 of the constitution Federal Republic of Nigeria and other laws peculiar to the state at large as well as Child Rights law.”
