By Gideon Arinze
The Enugu State Government has expressed readiness to partner with a non-governmental organization, Boys Quarters Africa, in tackling the scourge of gender-based violence, especially violence against women and girls.
Commander, Enugu State Traffic Authority, Udeani Chukwuemeka, stated this yesterday, when the founder of the organization, Solomon Ayodele led members of his team on an advocacy visit to the ministry.
Chukwuemeka said that ignorance remains one of the major reasons behind the escalating rate of gender-based violence, especially violence directed at women and girls in society.
He noted that the decision by the NGO to work with the ministry of transport, which directly deals with bus drivers and other transporters, is in the right direction because they interact with women and girls on daily basis.
He thanked the organization for choosing Enugu state to benefit from the project, giving the extent of importance the state government attaches to issues of gender-based violence.
“Both men and boys need the sensitisation to be able to say what gender violence is, “he said. “Our workers at the ministry will also need the training on how to handle gender-based violence as well”.
Earlier in his address, the Chief Executive Officer of the NGO, Solomon Ayodele, said that the project is about educating men/boys on how their attitudes and practices are crucial to fostering an equal & safe society through a grassroots engagement approach with Men and Boys that will directly impact and empower victims.
He noted that over the years, women have been leading the struggle against physical and sexual violence, across the different spectrum and focal areas.
“However, it is essential that more men get involved in this work to end the violence, especially because so much of this physical and sexual violence is done by men, “he said. This led to the launch of the initiative known as Project SABI, between Boys Quarters Africa and Connected Development”.
He explained that these men and boys, across the three project states, including Lagos, Abuja and Enugu, will be given the necessary information on their roles as responders, diverse communication and reporting channels, and the need to mobilize mass voices to collectively speak out against this silent pandemic.
“We would be visiting Motor Parks and having town halls with Transport Union Members, Market place Town Halls with Women, Support Group for women to learn and share, and the establishment of Boys against Sexual & Gender-Based Violence Boys Club across 30 Schools in the Project States,” he said.
He said that the project, which is undertaken in partnership with Connected Development (CODE), with support from Oxfam-Voice in three pilot states, will run for 18 months with the aim of ensuring the participation of men as key players in the fight against sexual and gender-based violence.
