Abia Govt. Partners VSI, police in fight against gender based violence
The Wife of the Abia State Governor Mrs Priscilla Otti, has called for a strong collaboration with the Security Agencies in combating the
Gender Based and Sexual Violence offences in the state.
Mrs Otti spoke Umuahia, the state capital during a two-day training for 100 law enforcement agents organized by Vision Spring Initiatives (VSI) a Non-Governmental Organisation, in partnership with Office of Wife of Abia State Governor, and funded by the African Women’s Development Fund.
She charged the officers to be passionate, responsive and take responsibility in the fight against GBV related crimes and assured that the state, under the leadership of Governor Alex Otti prioritizes
the safety of women, girls, and all citizens in the state.
She said, “We are set to re-inauguration a functional GBV response team to act swiftly and in addressing cases of violence against women and girls.
“We have established a GBV management committee, the committee will drive collaboration and policy direction in this critical area. The state government is committed to providing dedicated funding of both the GBV response team particularly the Police”.
Also Speaking, the Executive Director VSI, Mrs. Ngozi Nwosu-Juba, said the training is necessary because of the spike in sexual violence due to poverty and other challenges militating against women and girls.
She pointed out that the training was targeted at enhancing the capacities of the Law enforcement officers towards a survivor-centred approach to ending sexual violence against women and girls
She said series of trainings supported by the African Women’s Development Fund started in 2023 with a needs assessment involving relevant stakeholders, adding that results of the findings formed the basis of the different interventions currently implemented in the State.
“We are here to transform the lives of women and girls because we are tired of hearing of sexual violence cases. This time we want to partner the Police and put an end to GBV.
“We are not good at complaining of what the government is doing and what they are doing, but we want to collaborate with the security agents and bring about the change.
“We also want to partner other stakeholders so that we can have a central place to document cases of sexual violence in Abia State, will enable us to intervene quickly.
The Commissioner of Police, Mr. Danladi Isa, represented by the Deputy Commissioner in Charge of Criminal Investigation Department, Mr. Hayatu Shaffa, said that there was no better time than now to fight GBV and informed that the trainees were carefully selected.
He added that the Inspector General of Police had directed all State Commands to set up a GBV Departments.
The training had topics anchored by professionals in gender and sexual matters such as; causes of GBV, its prevalence, actionable solutions, roles of state and non-state actors in combating the crime, including the necessary structures for the prevention and campaigns to educate the public on their legal Rights.