From Noah Ocheni, Lokoja
The chairman, Joint Committee of Women Affairs and Judiciary representing Igalamela/Odolu constituency in Kogi state house of Assembly, Barrister Cosmos Atabor has reiterated Assembly’s commitment towards speedy passage of Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP), bill in the state.
Barrister Cosmos Atabor gave the assurance on Wednesday when he received the sponsor of the bill, Challenged Parenthood Initiative, (CPI), in his office.
The committee chairman who was represented by the Deputy Clerk of the house Alfa Ndagi, told the CPI team that the Assembly has been working round the clock to see that the bill is passed into law and assented to by executive arm of government.
He explained further that the committee held technical sessions where salient issues about the bill were raised and the opinion of various stakeholders was judiciously considered.
Atabor who averred that the bill is left with three processes before it would be passed to law, however, opined that the biggest hurdles to climb is the enforcement of the bill.
Earlier, the Executive Director, Challenged Parenthood Initiative. (CPI), Eunice Abimbola Agbogun told the lawmaker that they were in his office to do a follow up on the bill after a successful public hearing and to get first hand information on the progress report.
Agbogun who commended the Kogi State House of Assembly for writing their names in gold like many other states who had passed the bill into law, pointed out that the organization and its partners have continued to received positive feedback on the important of the bill to stop domestic and other related violence in the society.
The Joint Committee of Women Affairs and Judiciary is expected to submit it report in the floor of the hallow chamber in the next couple of weeks.
It would be recalled that, twenty three out of the 36 states of the federation are yet to domesticate the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Act, five years after the Act was signed into law.
“The VAPP Act is a law that guarantees protection of the rights of victims of all forms of sexual and gender-based violence in the country.”
