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On Law Against Violence

RECENTLY, the Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, signed a law to prohibit all forms of violence against persons and to provide maximum and effective remedies for victims, as well as punish people found culpable of violence in private and public settings.
WHILE the first part of the law defines the terms of the law, the second part dwells on the activities of sexual offenders, such as people who coerce others to engage in any act to the detriment of their physical or psychological well being, as well as people who without any lawful justification eject their spouses from home.
IN the third part of the law, Magistrates and High Courts get powers to hear and grant any application under the law, with the powers of the courts defined as related to protective orders.
THE Hope commends the state government and the House of Assembly for drafting and putting into the statute books a law to save thousands if not millions of persons suffering under all sorts of violence.
NEEDLESS to say, lots of tensions pervade the land, some of them caused by the economic depression prevailing in the country, some caused by the after effects of COVID-19, some of them perpetrated by the challenges caused by climate change.
DUE to the tensions, Nigerians find themselves embattled, unable to pull out of the quagmire, buffeted by challenges at the workplace, challenges from the streets, challenges from escalating increases cost of living.
ONE of the major causes of the tension can be located in the violence taking place in public and private places, and it is noteworthy that the state government seeks to provide maximum and effective remedies for victims and to punish people found culpable of the offences.
WITH the signage of the law, it will not only protect everyone against all forms of violence, it will also shield the girl child and other vulnerable people against acts of violence unleashed by powerful persons.
FOR instance, the girl child will get justice against fathers, teachers, guardians, and other desperate people who rape them under their care, as well as punish offenders for committing such heinous acts.
THOUGH statistics are not readily available, but it is a known fact that many unscrupulous parents abandon their children to the harsh vicissitudes of life, and to forestall this, the law makes such people culpable of the behavior, to make them think twice before carrying out the act.
OBVIOUSLY, advantages derive from laws to tackle child abandonment, since a fall in the practice leads to crime reduction, the crashing of teenage pregnancy figures, the cutting down in prostitution rates, and a control of attitudes making the country one of the most dangerous places to live in today.
OF course, violence in the state involves a public dimension, with many politicians exhibiting violent tendencies against not only women but also against the voiceless, the weak, and the vulnerable.
HOWEVER, the law should reduce, if not mitigate, the attitude, as offenders could be found liable under the new situation, and made to pay for it.
FROM time immemorial, family succession disputes bring lots of violence to persons, especially widows, who get thrown out of houses and suddenly find themselves destitute, with their properties forcefully taken away from them.
DEFINITELY, a law should succor them from the ill treatment, and the new thinking against violence does just that, to deter people inclined towards taking unacceptable despicable measures.
THOUGH some traditional practices form part of our culture, but sometimes adherents carry their interpretation too far, perpetrating violence against the unwary, since laws do not exist to caution them.
ACCORDING to the new law, carrying out harmful traditional practices on another person entitle perpetrators some punishment, as it’s another form of violence against the weak.
THE Hope endorses the new law against violence in the state, as we feel sanity will prevail, but still, suggestions exist to make the law become even more effective.
Stakeholders must engage in a massive sensitization and enlightenment exercise to ensure residents of the Sunshine State become aware of the new law as deterrence against future violent behaviours.
MEMBERS of the public should develop proactive attitudes as regards the new law by reporting any violation and pursue cases pertaining to it to a logical conclusion.
THE government must intensify the fight against the usage of drugs, because it speeds up the propensity of users to engage in violent acts to settle real or imagined cases of dispute.
FINALLY, the government should increase its efficiency at making people who violate the laws apprehended by the relevant law enforcement agencies, to prove that it possesses the teeth to ensure the enforcement of the law, and it can do this through the enlistment of a greater number of specialized personnel on the issue.

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