The Abiodun Essiet Initiative for Girls (AEIG), an NGO, has partnered with the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) to end Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) in FCT.
The organisation made this known when the Original Inhabitants project team of the NGO, paid an advocacy visit to the Director-General of NAPTIP in Abuja.
Mrs Abiodun Essiet, Founder, AEIG, who led the team, said the visit was aimed at sharing findings on its efforts towards combating SGBV in the FCT with the agency.
Essiet added that the visit was also aimed at appreciating the director-general and the agency for their unwavering support in tackling the menace over the years.
She said that since 2021, the organisation started implementing a two-year project tagged `Strengthening traditional justice systems to combat SGBV in FCT’.
She said that the project, sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation, through Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED), also focused on improving access to efficient healthcare delivery.
Essiet explained that so far, the organisation had been able to achieve progress in some of its efforts, such as, conducting a baseline study on the prevalence of SGBV in FCT, especially in rural areas.
“We developed and implemented scorecards on community responses to SGBV and also trained more than 150 traditional rulers on the VAPP Act, management of SGBV cases and preventive measures.
“We also organized sensitization seminars on SGBV in community secondary schools across the six area councils in FCT and also raised anti-SGBV ambassadors amongst the students.
“We are working in partnership with the FCT Secondary Education Board to ensure schools are safe for students and any erring teacher or management staff will be brought to justice.
“We have reached more than 5,000 people, mostly original inhabitants of the FCT, with different awareness activities like radio programmes, town hall meetings, media briefings, and advocacy visits, among others,” she said.
In her response, Prof. Fatima Waziri-Azi, NAPTIP D-G, lauded the interventions of the organisation, while assuring of the agency’s commitment to winning the war against SGBV.
“I have been following your organisation activities and I must say that you are doing exceptionally well.
“As government agencies, we rely on organisations like yours to reach out to the grassroots, even as we work closely with the judiciary to ensure prosecution of perpetrators.
“The FCT judiciary had also graciously assigned six courts for SGBV cases,” she said.