Osun: Group seeks increased funding to combat rising cases of SGBV
By Ismail Azeez, Osogbo
The National Working Group seeing to the effective implementation of Violence Against Persons Prohibition Law in Osun State has called on the state government and its legislative arms to accommodate programmes, policies and structures in the 2025 budget towards ending Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) in the state.
The group, with the support of Women Advocacy Research and Documentation Center (WARDC) and African Women Development Fund (AWDF) in collaboration with the Movement Against Sexual and Gender Based Violence, International Federation of Female Lawyers, Osun State branch, condemned spike in cases of SGBV in Osun and identified a budget that is gender-responsive as panacea to the menace.
Addresing a press conference at the Osun NUJ correspondents’ chapel in Osogbo on Tuesday, Citizen Lola Wey, the Coordinator of Osun State WARDC Working Group, appealed to the state government to invest heavily in programmes and activities aimed at preventing SGBV.
Wey, while being flanked by other members of the group, asked the state government to provide comprehensive psychosocial support for survivors of SGBV, hold perpetrators accountable by developing a gender responsive budget that make specific allocations to action plans that will eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls either in the public or private space so as to enhance the dignity, safety and wellbeing of women and girls living in Osun.
She said despite some measures put in place government and other stakeholders to stem the tide, the human rights activist said Osun is said to be one of the States with highest incidences of SGBV in Nigeria.
According to her, seems to be connected with gaps identified in Osun State Womanity Index (GBV) Ranking 2023 which included low sensitisation of police officers and of the law enforcement agents on GBV laws, limited funding and resources to support SGBV prevention and response programmes and activities, social and cultural norms that perpetuate SGBV.
She identified lack of GBV specialised courts headed by judges specially trained to handle SGBV cases, corrupt practices of some members of the law enforcement agencies and the judiciary to pervert the course of justice, inadequate financial resources for prosecution, low awareness of the existence of the VAPP law by members of the bench, the bar, law enforcement agencies and the general public among others as factors responsible for the worsening pandemic.
“We are also demanding for a sustained political will, backed by a Gender Responsive Budget with specific and adequate budgetary allocations for costed actions plans that guarantees effective implementation of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Law (VAPP Law) to tackle the scourge which has become a pandemic.
“We urge the State Government to deliberately and intentionally invest in SGBV, increase budgetary allocations for programmes and activities aimed at prioritising the dignity, safety and general wellbeing of women and girls by empowering them to access their rights and fulfil their potential and thereby end sexual and gender based violence against them. The elimination of SGBV in Osun State will remove the states name from the list of states with very high SGBV incidence in Nigeria,” she said.
