…pledges commitment of Government for the protection of the rights of women, children and other citizens.
Ekiti State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs Olapeju Babafemi has assured that the State Government would continue to provide enabling environment for women, children and other vulnerable people in the State to actualize their full potentials.
The Commissioner who gave the assurance in Ado-Ekiti while featuring on Ekiti Loni/ Ekiti Today , a live audience participation programme on radio, also pledged
the commitment of Government to the protection of the rights of women, children and other citizens of Ekiti through the diligent enforcement of the State Female Genital Mutilation Prohibition law of 2002, the State Child Rights Act 2006, State Gender Based Violence Prohibition Law and other existing related legislations.
She said that efforts by her Ministry and the State Government to rid society of Gender Based Violence (GBV) and harmful traditional practices such as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) have started yielding positive results as more people in the State are now aware of the evils of these vices and the attendant punishment under the law thus drastically reducing the number of new cases of GBV and FGM being recorded in the State.
The Commissioner said with the active support of Governor Biodun Oyebanji and the Office of the Wife of the Governor as well as with the synergy with Development Partners and Non Governmental Organizations, her ministry has also continued to record successes in the quest to provide equal opportunities for the development and advancement of children, women and other vulnerable people in Ekiti State and in the area of providing succor for the less privileged and persons requiring social intervention.
According to her, the Ministry has under its Welfare and Empowerment Programme for Widows and Vulnerable people in the last one and a half years provided 50 sewing machines , 35 deep freezers, 35 grinding machines as empowerment materials for business startup/business support to widows and vulnerable women across the State while 240 petty traders across the State received cash grant totalling N6 million naira.
Mrs Babafemi also disclosed that 33 bags of rice and 20 bags of beans were distributed to alleviate the condition of needy people in dire financial condition.
She noted that the Transit Home established for abused women and girls by Government in November 2020 has continued to serve as a place of comfort for women and girls who are survivors of Gender Based violence, rape, human trafficking, maltreatment, and other GBV related cases adding that through the centre, a lot of survivors of GBV have received care, psycho-social support and protection from stigmatization.
According to the Commissioner, the Transit Home which currently has 45 inmates also has a skill acquisition component where inmates learn skills including fashion designing, hairdressing, photography as well as production of soap and disinfectants while waiting for justice at the centre stressing that the purpose of this is to make them self-reliant after transiting through the centre.
She disclosed that in line with Global best practices, the present administration has taken a major step towards ensuring that women are adequately represented at the highest level of government as a sizeable number of key political offices in the State are currently occupied by women.
According to the Commissioner, “for the first time in the history of the State, Six members of the State House of Assembly are females, Seven Local Government Chairmen are women, 15 Local Government Vice Chairman are women while 10 members of the State Executive Council are also females”.
Last modified: July 1, 2024
