AIYEDATIWA WILL ENSURE PEACEFUL ELECTION – SPECIAL ADVISER ON GENDER, OLAMIDE FALANA
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AIYEDATIWA WILL ENSURE PEACEFUL ELECTION – SPECIAL ADVISER ON GENDER, OLAMIDE FALANA
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Gender Matters, Chief Mrs. Olamide Falana has said that the forthcoming gubernatorial election would be free, fair and credible owing to the fact that the Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa is a man of peace.
Chief Falana re-echoed this at the Ondo State Stakeholders roundtable on Strengthening Gender-based Violence (GBV) Response and Prevention In elections with the theme: The Role of Technology, held at Alagbaka, Akure.
According to her, the Governor is playing his part in providing a peaceful and proactive leadership and it behooves of all to add their voices to discourage people from fermenting trouble in the state.
“Ondo State remains one of the most peaceful states in the country, even though elections are fast approaching, there is calm and the Governor would ensure it remains that way; Stakeholders have a role in sensitizing other political parties because the All Progressives Congress (APC) has zero tolerance for violence”.
Giving her opening remarks, the Gender boss stressed that Gender-based Violence is not a woman issue but rather a person’s issue, being either from female to male or vice versa making anyone the victim, saying that at all times all hands must be on deck towards the prevention of Gender-based violence, awareness and speedy trial of culprits to ensure promptness in response and fairness in giving justice.
She charged all the partners and stakeholders to make the deliberations a systematic process to spur behavioral change saying, that there is a need to proactively assist the government because the government cannot do it all, even as she called on the State Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to make the conversation on Gender-based Violence continuous and not restricted to when elections are fast approaching to enable citizens become accustomed to it so no one would claim ignorance of the law.
Giving kudos to the organizers, Chief Mrs. Falana mentioned that the programme was being organized at the right time and that it would positively impact the stakeholders. She implored them to synergize with the state’s GBV response team so that the reports harvested could be taken up by the various arms of government for continuity, till justice is served.
In his remarks, the convener Mr. Joseph Umaru appreciated all the stakeholders for their presence and valid contributions. He also informed that the basis of the meeting was to create awareness for the GBV services application and get feedback on its effectiveness.
Speaking further, he hinted that what inspired the innovation was the poor culture of silence suffered by the survivors and the need to provide a platform for them to be able to report a GBV case anonymously, while ensuring protection of the person’s identity. He commended the state government for its GBV mechanism readily in place which would serve as a good platform for the functionality of the application.
Other stakeholders present were staff of OSA-GBV, Ondo State Commissioner of Police, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), and selected media houses.
According to a statement signed by the Media Officer in Office of Gender Matters, Debbie Funmilayo, highpoints of the meeting was the technical session involving stakeholders contributions on how best to make the application robust for maximum functionality in all the nooks and crannies of the state.
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