Imo State government has reaffirmed its commitment to fight against gender-based violence.
Addressing Imo women at the Government House, Owerri, Wednesday, state deputy governor, Prof. Placid Njoku assured that government will always stand by the women.
Led by the state Commissioner for Women Affairs and Vulnerable Group, Lady Nkechinyere Ugwu, the women had embarked on a walk against gender-based violence, as part of the activities for the programme tagged ’16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence.
The deputy governor submitted that there is no reason to tolerate any form of gender-based violence, either against women or men, adding that any woman whose husband dies, has a right to inherit her husband’s property, without any interference.
“In every case, the woman has her rights and her rights include the right to be herself, to be respected. Nobody should make anybody else inferior. The man has his strength and the woman has her strength and she should be allowed to use it. The strength of the man does not lie in battering or looking down on the woman, but in helping to grow the woman”.
In her speech, the wife of the governor, Barr. Chioma Uzodimma, represented by wife of the deputy governor, Mrs. Bola Njoku, promised to deploy the needed resources to ensure that the elimination of gender-based violence becomes a reality.
She called on all well meaning Imolites to commit to the fight, reminding people who have other people’s children under their care to treat them like human beings, the way they treat their own children.
In her address, leader of the delegation and Commissioner for Women Affairs and Vulnerable Group, Lady Nkechinyere Ugwu beckoned on the Imo State House of Assembly to expedite action in passing into law and domesticating the Violence Against Persons (VAP) Law, which she said will effectively handle all forms of gender-based violence such as rape and other sexual assaults.
She called on the governor to throw his weight behind the domestication of the VAP Law and implement other policies that will aid the elimination of all forms of gender-based violence.