The National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internationally Displaced Persons, NCFRMI, said it is time to take decisive action against Sexual and Gender Based Violence in Nigeria.
Federal Commissioner, Imaan Sulaiman Ibrahim stated this in Abuja, Nigeria when the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists, National Council of Women society and the Federation of Women Lawyers paid her a solidarity visit.
The visit came on the heels of the event to end the annual ’16 days Activism Against Sexual and Gender Based Violence’
Sulaiman-Ibrahim said that part of the Commission’s responsibility was to look after the vulnerable.
“When there is vulnerability, there is abuse. It is good we join our voices to amplify our stand on sexual and gender based violence. Coming from NAPTIP, of course I know how critical it is”.
“I have seen all sorts of abuse; from incest to abuse by the people you trust. It has come to its height. It is good to know that the people that abuse our girls are not spirits, they live among us”.
“If we put our heads together, we can fight and eliminate SGBV. We must effect the act of exposing and fishing out perpetrators.
According to her, Perpetrators must be punished because, an attack on one girl is an attack against all girls.
“This is a big task ahead of us, it is real, it is happening, but we must fight it. SGBV must come to an end, enough is enough,” Sulaiman Ibrahim emphasised
For her part, the Chairperson of FCT NAWOJ, Ann Daniel said in every three girls, one among them has been violated and abused.
She commended Sulaiman-Ibrahim for doing a good job at NAPTIP.
“No wonder, President Muhammadu Buhari gave her another task at NCFRMI to look after IDPs, because, a lot of girls and women are abused in the IDP Camps.
Daniel said the era of strategy and awareness creation has passed, it’s now the era of action against SGBV.
“We are aware of the falsehood spread against Sulaiman-Ibrahim. We are telling her never to mind them. They are doing that because, you are a woman and you want to change the narrative in the Commission for good,” she stressed.
Also present at the event was the Association of Wives of Traditional Rulers in the FCT, Women leader Durumi IDPs camp, and other NGOs who all spoke with one voice to end SGBV.
Dominica Nwabufo
