Kwara First Lady commends NGF for declaring State of Emergency on rape, gender-based violence

Anthonia Duru

First Lady of Kwara State and Founder Ajike People’s Support Center, Dr. Mrs Olufolake Abdulrazaq has commended the Nigeria Governors Forum for declaring state of emergency on Sexual and Gender-based Violence (GBV) and condemning all forms of violence against women and children. She further thanked the Governors Forum for endorsing the statement of the 36 First ladies on the issue.

Mrs. Abdulrazaq stated this, on Thursday, during an Instagram live chat with Dolapo Badmus on the alarming rate of incidents of rape and other sexual violence and ways to address the unsavoury trend.

CSP Dolapo Badmus is a trained domestic and sexual violence responder.

Mrs. Abdulrazaq observed that to get to the root of issues concerning rape, victims of this violent crime need not keep quiet about their experiences saying that in the event of an incident the abused needs to speak up about their abusers as this is a step towards getting redress.

The wife of the governor also noted that many people can not speak up because they are threatened. That’s why we need to counsel people on why they should speak up in the event of an abuse, otherwise the abuse goes unabated.

She also called for a collective approach towards riding our society of menace pointed out that her office and the Ajike People’s Support Center are engaging relevant stakeholders through sensitization and advocacies to rid our society of the scourge.