The Ondo State House of Assembly on Monday held a Public Hearing on a bill for a law to eliminate violence in private and public life.
The bill prohibits all forms of violence against persons and provides for maximum and effective remedies for victims and punishment of offenders and other related matters.
Declaring the public hearing open, Mr Bamidele Oloyelogun, the Speaker of the House, said that the bill was meant to prevent all forms of gender based violence in the state.
Oloyelogun urged the stakeholders at the hearing to submit their memoranda and promised that their views and opinions would be considered.
The speaker appreciated the state governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, for sponsoring the bill, extending his appreciation to Mrs Betty Akeredolu, the wife of the governor, for championing the fight against women and girl child abuse in the state.
In his remarks, Mr Simeon Borokini, the Chairman of the House Committee on Violence Against Person/Gender Related Matters, said that violence affected all either directly or indirectly.
Borokini said that violence had nothing to do with religion, status , saying it was a time for its end in the state.
” Violence against persons is the most pervasive. It knows no boundaries of geography, culture or wealth.
“As long as it continues, we cannot claim to be making real progress towards development and peace,” he said.
The lawmaker explained that the recent upsurge in cases of violence against persons in the society had stirred the concern of many stakeholders in the society, stressing “this brings to fore the need to domesticate the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Law( VAAP).
” Before now, this bill has been passed by the Senate but with few states domesticating it but in recent time, some of our neighbouring states: Ekiti, have domesticated the law.
” This law caters for the fundamental rights of persons in its entirety to include some barbaric cultural norms which impose undue interference on person in the society: widowhood, female circumcision.”
According to him, the law is being replicated in the state to achieve a saner society envisioned in the state, saying it would be different from other existing laws dealing with gender based matters.
He said that if the bill was passed into law, Ondo State would be the first state to have full-fledged agency catering for violence-related matters, adding that the agency would be under the officer of the state First Lady.
The Committee Chairman, who thanked Mrs Akeredolu for her unflinching defence of the rights of the female child in the state and for her keen interest in VAAP, said that violence had eaten deep into societal values.
Borokini also thanked the leadership of the house and other stakeholders for their commitment to ensure a violence-free society.
Responding, Mrs Moyinoluwa Falowo, the Regent of Ibule, Ifedore Local Council Area of the state, asked for stricter punishment for offenders of violent acts.
The traditional ruler urged government to organize sensitisation especially at the grassroots for all traditional rulers on some archaic practices such as widowhood practices.
In her submission, Mrs Adefunke Odefa, representing Catholic Women Organization on Harmful Widowhood, tasked the lawmakers to consider inclusion of widows’ rights in the bill.
She expressed displeasure at the treatment of widows who after losing their husbands are also deprived of their gratuities, benefits and properties by the man’s extended family .
Also, Pastor Gabriel Ayeleso, who represented the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), said that the contents of the bills should give room for child discipline, decrying some provisions in other climes that do not support this. (NAN)
