Oyo State Rapid Response Team on Gender Based Violence disclosed on Sunday that it recorded a total of 692 cases of gender based violence between March 2020 and February 2021.
It hinted that physical abuse, rape and child labour cases were predominant within the period under review.
Other cases that were reported by the RRTGBV, which is under the state Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Inclusion, are abandonment, defilement, attempted rape, rescued and intimate partners violence.
According to the body, the victims of the reported cases of violence were majorly female, with a total of 418 survivors between ages 0 to 17years out of 692 cases recorded.
While presenting the report of activities on behalf of the Rapid Response Team in the last one year of its inauguration at the Conference Room of the Ministry over the weekend in Ibadan, the Chairman of the Committee, Mr. Marcus Williams, stressed the need to respond to the plights of girl – child and women promptly, noting that they appeared to be the most vulnerable to gender based violence in the society.
Williams said cases of gender-based violence would no longer be treated with kid’s glove in Oyo State as the government had vowed to invoke the law against perpetrators.
He stated that most of the reported reported cases happened in the rural communities, hence the need to collaborate with community leaders and sensitize them on the role to play in reducing the menace and ensure that parents play active roles in giving their children both formal and informal education, while the society also play its role of positive modelling.
Williams stated that the Rapid Response Team did not only rescue the survivors alone, but also supported them and saw each case to positive conclusion.
“All the cases reported were swiftly responded to with provision of psychosocial support, healthcare, alternative shelter, educational, nutrition and legal support as the case may be, and all these were made possible by the Oyo State Government.
“The society has to rise up and take up responsibility. Parents should see this as a clarion call for them to take good care of their kids in the areas of moral upbringing and basic education that will give the children direction in life.
“Government cannot do it all. In fact, the state has done so much to eradicate this cankerworm and other stakeholders should also do their bits so that we will see the end of the problem of gender-based violence,” he said.
Earlier in her remarks, the Commissioner, Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Inclusion, Alhaja Faosat Sanni, who was represented on the occasion by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mrs Christiana Abioye, said, “We have laws on ground against perpetrators and we will ensure that necessary actions and punishments are meted out to them.
“Recall that recently, Governor Seyi Makinde assented to a bill that guarantees protection and equal right for all irrespective of gender, age or tribe. It is called Violence Against Person Prohibition Bill which addresses the issues of men, women, boy-child and girl-child; it is all-encompassing as it will also provide succor to men who are also gender based violence victims.”
