Chika Otuchikere The fight against Sexual and Gender-Based Violence recently received a boost as the Niger State Government has put in place modalities to ensure that wife beaters in the state will spend three years imprisonment on conviction. The Niger State director of planning, research and statistics in the Ministry of Women Affairs, Mary Yisa, made this known to journalists while speaking on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse/Sexual Harassment in Minna. She said the state now has a robust legal, policy, noting that henceforth, any person who batters his or her spouse is liable on conviction to serve a term of three years imprisonment.
According to her, such spouses have an N200,000 option for a fine. Yisa said, “The SEASH broadly encompasses physical, sexual, economic, psychological/emotional abuse/violence including threats and coercion, and harmful practices that occur between individuals either at the place of work, within families and in the community, at large.” She said such violations also include sexual violence, domestic or Intimate Partner Violence, trafficking, forced or early marriage, and other traditional practices that might cause harm.
The director added, “Niger State has robust legal, policy and institutional frameworks for addressing GBV, which include the Violence Against Person Prohibition Law and Child Right Act, penal code, section 34 of the constitution the Federal Republic of Nigeria and other laws peculiar to the state at large as well as Child .
