Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Constituency Affairs, Hon Kadijat Kareem, has noted that all hands must be on deck to address root causes of violence against women to prevent incessant cases of femicide in the country.
Kadijat, who noted that femicide is a critical issue that affect everyone in as much it is against women and girls, said to fundamentally curb violence against women and girls “we must engage communities, listening to their concerns, and work together to develop effective solutions.”
According to her, efforts must be geared towards “supporting women, providing quality education, job training and promoting economic empowerment. To effectively prevent femicide, we must also address the roots causes of violence against women and girls. This includes challenges related to society, VMs code, majority power and authority promoting healthy relationships and providing support service for survivors. As a nation where we come together to condemn violence against women and girls, we must hold perpetrators accountable and work towards creating a culture of respect and liquidity to all women and girls.”
Vice Chairman, Ikorodu Local Government Area, Hon Folashade Oba, in her remarks noted that it is everyman’s duty to stand up for what is known to be right by taking a stand against domestic violence which often results in femicide.
Oba said such a stand against violence involving women in marriage or relationship should not be a one-of thing “because whatever we do for today goes on tomorrow. So making it better today is a guarantee that tomorrow will surely be better.”
Recalling the harsh experience she had to go through as a girl child, Folashade noted that “I knew what I had to go through. Some of us believe that you must go through a process to be able to preach it. Unfortunately, our culture makes us work in silence over a lot of things. But today, the narratives are changing. So much is going on on violence, most of these things happen in a private space as share of equality, and most times when things are not being said.”
She advocated for an awareness campaigns to schools to let the girls know that they cannot be limited, adding that “I was raised by a mother that didn’t go to school. But she told me, no limitations. Trust me, you can be all that you can be. And so I do what I do today because somebody gave me that inspiration. And so I want us, not only the children that we have, wherever we find ourselves we must stand up against domestic violence and femicide, no excuses.”
Folashade opined that “Because somebody is beautiful does not mean that she has to be raped. Because she’s beautiful does not mean that she cannot be promoted or she can’t be limited. So many women are losing their life daily, and it doesn’t need to be so.”
The symposium and community service award organized by Societal Concerns, themed “Breaking the Silence: Understanding and Preventing Femicide in Our Community” led by Ambassador Oluwayomi Oluwapelumi gathered resource persons to do justice to the topic.
Femicide is relationship or love-based violence that often results to the death of the female partners.
The event also witnessed the unveiling of Societal Concerns Magazine, which according to Oluwayomi, is a publication dedicated advancing the course of charitable life women while enlightening them on gender-based violence and seeking the support of relevant laws for adequate before it leads to femicide.
Dignitaries at the event includes the Founder, Omo Alausa Foundation, Dr Olayinka Alausa; Founder, Shokesta Development Initiative, Ambassador Soyebi Oluwapelumi Abiodun; Professor Olusesan Oloyede, former Dean, Faculty of Law, Olabisi Onabanjo University, who represented Dr. D. K. Olukoya, General Overseer, Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministry among others.
