Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi has declared war on rapists and other sexual violence offenders.
Fayemi who lamented the alarming rate of violence against children and women, said his administration would not relent on its efforts to curb the scourge in the state.
The governor stated this in Ado-Ekiti on Monday while receiving the annual report on the management of gender-based violence (GBV) and the state Strategic Plan.
He said the state will take more decisive steps by enforcing stiffer penalties against violators of GBV laws.
He said his administration’s commitment to combating gender-based violence is a clear demonstration of his government’s resolve to restore Ekiti’s core values.
Fayemi promised that the government would continue to provide the needed institutional and other forms of support for the fight against GBV since the barbaric practice was alien to the values of Ekiti people.
The governor said the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), which he chairs, had also taken a firm stand against sexual violence and abuse, a development which he said culminated in the declaration of a state of emergency on GBV in all states.
The governor’s wife and chairperson of the GBV management committee, Erelu Bisi Fayemi revealed that the state government has provided succour for no fewer than 133 survivors of GBV between December 2018 till date.
Mrs Fayemi said that the Committee which was reconstituted in July 2019, has been able to facilitate the provision of several legal frameworks to protect GBV survivors, including the compulsory treatment and care for sexually abused minors law 2020.
Source: The Nation