The Wife of the Taraba State Governor, Mrs Anna Darius Ishaku says the Hope Afresh Foundation Taraba has recorded tremendous success in gender based violence intervention within two years in the state.
Mrs. Ishaku disclosed this at the second town hall meeting organized by the Women in Media (WIM) Taraba State chapter and partners held in Jalingo , the State capital.
She said within two years, the foundation had targeted 185,180 population to increase awareness of gender based violence across the sixteen local government areas of the state.
Represented by the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer of the Hope Afresh Foundation Taraba, Mrs. Sarah David Ibi, she explained that awareness of GBV and reported cases has risen beyond target by 12,980 people.
“This shows that society is impacted by the get involved Campaign slogan of “If you see Something, say Something,” she added.
She also pointed out that out of the intended targeted population of 185,180, 198,160 were reached.
According to her, the successes were recorded through a strategy of using (1+9 green card) by the Foundation.
Mrs. Anna Ishaku added that the Hope Afresh Foundation Taraba had also achieved its target of assisting twelve survivors of gender based violence in the state.
She highlighted some achievements recorded by the foundation to include sponsorship of Violence Against Person’s Discrimination Bill passed into law by the State House of Assembly, provision of Sexual Assault Referral Center, the state GBV Financing Framework, the GBV Coordinating mechanism, and the ongoing renovation of proposed one shelter among others.
The wife of the governor commended the Women in Media (WIM) for the initiative and promised partnership to achieve the set goals.
Taraba State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Child Development, Bridget Twar explained that most of the victims of gender based violence are women, and urged them to support the campaign to end the menace.
On his part, Taraba State Commissioner of Police, CP Abimbola Sokoya, said the police will not relent in carrying out their constitutional mandate of protecting the lives of citizens.
Sokoya who was represented by DSP Agatha Usman at the occasion revealed some female police were victims of GBV and advised women with such experiences to always report cases to GBV units across all police stations .
In her remarks, Taraba state FIDA Chairperson, Barrister Fyafa Hosea Ibi said the association has done a lot in sensitizing the people at various levels including places of worship and markets.
She noted that FIDA works closely with the police in ensuring that justice takes its course especially where perpetrators plead guilty at the court of law.
The President of WIM, Taraba State, Mrs. Queen Kunde Enoch said that the town hall concept is a vehicle for change and a platform for discussions, noting that the idea was borne out of the fact that women in the State have been largely underrepresented in the political and governance arena.
“As we currently have now in Nigeria, women, and youth in Taraba are only used as pawns for power bargain and ascendance by political power seekers,” she alleged.
According to her, the objectives were also geared towards setting agenda for the development of the state as well as the role of women in the political process.
“This time around we extended our invitation to many political office seekers including all the Gubernatorial candidates in the state but to our dismay non of them show face, anyway, we the women will give them the answer come 2023, we don’t care about the political party anymore, we will go after a person’s credibility”.
There were goodwill messages from the Taraba State Coordinator of NBC, representatives of INEC, and the National Orientation Agency (NOA) among others.
Sani Sulaiman