Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, the Sultan of Sokoto, on Monday urged for more commitment on women education to enable the success of ending Gender Based Violence (GBV) in Nigeria.
Abubakar made the call when he received a monitoring team of EU-UN Spotlight Initiative, led by Prince Clem Agba, the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning on a courtesy visit in Sokoto.
The Sultan said that violence against women and children was an ugly trend which required the commitment of all in the society for it to be fully addressed.
“Nigeria had initiated laws on the measures to address the menace of violence against women and girl- child in the country, which needs to be properly implemented.
“We need to give more emphasis on our women’s education to be able to have full family protection.
“Educating a women is like educating the whole society, as such, education is the key to our project of ending all violence against women and children,” he said.
Abubakar commended the Federal government and EU -UN Spotlight Initiative, as well as all other Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and NGOs for their sustained efforts in addressing GBV.
In his address, the leader of the delegation told the Sultan that their visit to Sokoto State was to testify to the achievements and challenges of the Spotlight Initiative in the state.
“We are here to testify the achievement so far and the challenges in order to strengthen the achievements and sustainability mechanism.
“The initiative supports eradication of violence against women and children, particularly the most vulnerable population to live a life free of violence and harmful practice,” he said.
Agba said that the Federal Government had placed a high premium on women and children as almost half of the entire population was under the age of 15 years.
“It is worthy to note that entirely women, children and youth are part of the key priority area for Nigeria, as encapsulated in the National Development Plan 2021-2025,” the minister added.
He further revealed that in Sokoto state, violence against women and girls was prevalent, with at least 32.8 per cent of married women aged 15-49 years experiencing it.
“This is either emotional, physical and sexual violence committed by their partners and husbands, which continued to hinder their amooth socioeconomic and development.
“The above development necessitated the Spotlight Initiative, FG and all other development partners to collaborate in curving the menace,” Agba said.
In their separate remarks, Mr Ruben Aguilera and Mr Matthias Schmale, EU Head of Government, Peace and Migration and Resident Coordinator, United Nations, respectively, thanked the Sultan for his fatherly role in addressing GBV.
The duo restated the Spotlight Initiative’s commitment to support Nigeria towards ending all forms of violence against women and children in the country.
Also speaking at a quarterly coordination meeting on violence against women and children, Dame Pauline Tallen, the Minister for Women Affairs, congratulated the donor agencies for the initiative.
Tallen said the project had increased awareness of GBV and up-scaled the initiators, touching the lives of women and girls in Nigeria.
She reiterated her ministry’s commitment to continue to collaborate with the CSOs and other relevant partners to bring violence against women and girls to an end.
Also speaking l, Alhaji Mannir Dan’iya, the Sokoto state Deputy Governor, said the meeting marked a significant landmark towards achieving zero-tolerance to GBV in the state.
Dan’iya, represented by Alhaji Hassan Maccido, the state Commissioner of Budget and Economic Planning restated the state government’s commitment in ensuring the success of the fight against GBV.
