The Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) has appealed to state governments yet to domesticate the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Act (2015) to do so for the protection of citizens, especially women and the vulnerable.

The WFD Country Director, Mr Adebowale Olorunmola, made the appeal on Friday in Abuja at the occasion on the “Review and Validation of Report of the National Research on Implementation of the VAPP Act and related Laws in 12 states in Nigeria”.

Olorunmola said that the upsurge witnessed in sexual and gender based violence during the lockdown period called for all states to use the law to protect the citizens.

“I will call on states that are yet to domesticate the act to please do so, but in doing so, let all the broad stakeholders and citizens be involved in the robust process

“Let appropriate sanctions that will serve as a deterrent to would be offenders be included in the document and be properly implemented.

“Let all the Agencies that are going to be saddled with the responsibility for the implementation be properly equipped and provided with the necessary resources to effectively implement the Act.” he said.

Olorunmola said that the meeting was to look at the Act and other laws designed to protect citizens, especially women and other vulnerable groups and see if they had been successfully implemented.

He said that the event was to look at challenges and the lessons learnt.

“If we have 18 states already domesticating and implementing, it means we have 18 states to go and lessons from the state that are implementing now can be taken to the 18 states yet to adopt,” he said.

According to him, findings and documents from the event would be made available for all stakeholders and all states.

Olorunmola stressed the need for all stakeholders to work together to press for adoption and effective implementation of the Act.

“All stakeholders should work on to ensure that all agencies involved in the effective implementation of VAAP, are better funded and equipped.

“There is a need for sensitization of the citizens themselves to be aware of the existence of VAPP. When they are aware of the law they will be able to utilize it.

“Even individuals or groups that use the law as an instrument to advance the interests of all citizens need to be aware that such law exists.

“So there is a lot of work to be done by all of us including the media, in the area of advocacy,” Olorunmola added.

He also urged the media, CSOs and other stakeholders to continue to help in sensitising the citizens on laws protecting them, particularly those who are vulnerable.

Imaan Sulaiman–Ibrahim, the Director- General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons(NAPTIP), represented by Mr Tolu Odugbesan, said that during the COVID-19 lockdown, the agency was overwhelmed with cases of violence against persons.

Sulaiman–Ibrahim said that the agency responded spontaneously by creating a sexual and gender based unit to deal with such cases and provide the necessary care and supports to the victims and survivors of such acts.

“In the course of her journey, the agency also created the sexual offenders and service providers register in Nov. 25 2019.

“Up to date, the agency has been able to register 621 cases of violence against persons and has gotten a life conviction,” he said.

The VAPP Coordinator representing Rule of Law and Anti-corruption Programme (RoLAC), Mrs Ene Ede, said VAAP was being under-enforced and awareness was still low.

Ede stressed the need for stakeholders to support the Police in prosecuting cases of gender based violence.

“We know that there are agencies but the police is so critical in getting the first information for the investigation to win cases in court,” she said.(NAN)