By Josephine Oguntoyinbo

Ondo State government has restated its commitment to ensuring rapid response towards putting at bay Gender Based Violence (GBV) in the State.

The Special Adviser to the Ondo State Governor on Gender, Mrs. Olamide Falana gave the assurance while declaring open a two-day orientation and training organised for the Staff of the Ondo State Agency Against Gender-Based Violence (OSAA-GBV) in Akure.

According to her, the training became imperative to equip and strengthen staff capacity towards performing efficiently.

Falana affirmed that having the requisite skills to attend to cases and the ability to network with different stakeholders will go a long way to tackle GBV in the state.

“The workforce was a key in driving and implementing government programmes and policies. It was therefore, essential that they are trained and retrained on a regular basis with a view to equipping it with the latest methodology and technology to solve emerging problems and challenges as well as churning out optimal productivity at all times,” she stressed.

In her keynote address, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Gender, Mrs. Temitope Daniyan who represented the wife of the Governor, Chief(Mrs) Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu posited that GBV was a heart burning issue  a breach to fundamental right to life, liberty, dignity among others.

She therefore called on the participants to work conscientiously as a team and build a formidable synergy towards combating the menace for the State to be GBV free.

Earlier in her welcome address, the Executive Secretary of the Agency, Bolanle Joel -Ogundadegbe noted that the agency was created under the law to tackle violence against persons in whatever shape so as to make the State a safe haven.

She informed that the training focused on gender based violence in Nigeria, way forward,VAPP law implementation strategy, medical response to GBV cases, need for effective counselling in the fight against GBV among others.

One of the resource persons at the training programme, Rita llevbare (Esq)  enumerated causes of GBV to include, cultural/religious barrier against women and girls, gender inequality, economic status of victims, silence, ignorance, stigmatisation, among others.

She therefore recommended the way forward to end the ugly trend which includes, political will, policy and legal framework, funding, access to justice, treatment, economic empowerment, education for women and girls among others.

The former International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) Chairperson equally reminded participants to passionately treat victims cases and do a follow-up to ensure that they overcome their challenges as well as recuperate back to the society.

Cross section of participants who spoke in separate interviews with The Hope affirmed that the training was an eye opener towards achieving the set goals.