The International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Ekiti State Chapter has engaged Religious Leaders in the state with a view to bring an end to the spate of Gender-based violence against women and children.
The Chairperson of the Association, Oyinade Olatunbosun, while addressing the gathering in Ado-Ekiti, at the opening ceremony of a 2-day annual dialogue on GBV against women, explained that the gathering was necessary as most cases of the GBV against women were being swept under the carpet as a result of cultural and religious factors.
Oyinade said the annual dialogue, which was supported by Ford Foundation, was to partner religious leaders and strategies on how to curtail the factors that promote gender based violence against women and children in Ekiti.
Her words, “Our mandate is the promotion, protection and preservation of the rights of women and girls in our society.
We discovered that the number is not reducing, that’s why we are here today. We have put in so many machinery to see how we can curb the violence against women and children.
“That’s why we are having this conversation with people we call stakeholders in our community, the religious leaders to see how we can stop the factors that promote gender based violence against women and children in our society.
“More advocacy is needed to stop the spate of violence against women and children. When we interact with this people, they will go back to their society so that they can be the voice of women and children”.
On her part, the coordinator of Ford Foundation Project, Rita Abba noted that Ekiti was the third beneficiary of the project after Plateau and Lagos states.
She reiterated the purpose of the gathering which was to tackle the underlying factor in the religious circle that promote GBV such as culture, religion, socio-economy influence, among others.
The Chairman of the the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Ekiti state chapter, Emmanuel Aribasoye, represented by Rotimi Oluwatusin urged religious leaders in the state to be intentional in their preaching against gender abuse and violence in order to eradicate the menace in the society.
Also, the President of Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Ekiti state, Hammed Bakare hailed the state government for putting up preventive measures in ensuring that women and children are prevented against any form of violence.
