The wife of the Osun State Governor and Chairperson of the Southern Governors Wives Forum (SGWF), Mrs Kafayat Oyetola, has called on mothers in the South region of the country to rise up to the challenge of gender-based violence by teaching children relevant values that enhance human dignity at homes, AMILOADED reports.
Mrs Oyetola gave the charge while speaking the 2021 Anambra Women’s Summit in Awka, the Anambra State capital on Tuesday.
Speaking, the Osun First Lady stated that the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic had further worsened the incidents of gender-based violence across Nigeria.
She said, “Women are usually more at the receiving end of these harmful acts especially during the time of crisis such as the current COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The issue of gender-based violence has become a major problem. It is a country-wide challenge. It has raised great health concerns.
“The manifestation of this problem is diverse as it comes in verbal harassment, mutilation of the female body through traditional practices such as female genital mutilation, denial and blockade from resources sometimes based on matrimonial status or widowhood status, the subjection of women to injurious activity based on harmful practices, rape, beating and assaulting of women, among others.
“When we talk about gender-based violence, we should not limit our attention to rape and sexual violence alone. Let us look at every other harmful activities that make our women incapable of living a dignified and fulfilling life
“We mothers have a great role to play in fighting this social menace. GBV is not a natural disaster. It is a social crisis that emanates from wrong and dysfunctional orientation,” Mrs Oyetola stated.
The Osun First Lady continued, “If we are to fight it, we must go to the root causes. These lead directly to our homes. Mothers are the first handlers of the orientation of our boys and our girls. Therefore, we should start in our homes by training our children on the relevant values that enhance human dignity.
“When men and boys respect the women and girls, and refrain from on-leashing violence on them, our society will be safer and much more productive.”
On the activities of the wives of governors in the country, Mrs. Oyetola further noted that the national umbrella body of the Southern Governors Wives Forum was keen on ensuring all states in Nigeria have laws that would help root out GBV in Nigeria.
In his opening remarks, one of the resource persons who spoke at the summit, Professor Chike Okoye, stated that the problem of gender-based violence such as child marriage, female genital mutilation, torture, high handedness, and physical punishment among others, exposed children to many dangers associated with the menace.
On her part, the chief host and wife of the governor of Anambra State, Mrs. Ebelechukwu Obiano, aligned her submissions on the menace as earlier articulated by the Osun First lady, Mrs. Kafayat Oyetola.
She further commended other governors’ wives in the South and the country at large for the intense determination to confront the challenge of gender-based violence in the society.
Leave a Reply