Ini Billie, Uyo
The Akwa Ibom State governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel has demanded the incarceration of gender-based violence offenders in the country.
The governor, who provided succour for victims of gender-based violence with the inauguration of a 60-bed space Gender-Based Violence Centre, added that the centre would help rehabilitate victims.
Speaking in Uyo during the inauguration of the Gender-Based Violence Centre in Uyo, the governor stated his administration has zero tolerance for all forms of gender-based violence.
He said: “I recall last year that we inaugurated a State Management Committee on Gender-Based Violence. The principal terms of reference were to eliminate or reduce GBV to its barest minimum.
“Our aim was also to bring to book those who engage in this irreprehensible act. I want to reassure the committee of the importance we attach to this project and our determination to back the law that we have enacted.
“Victims of sexual abuses must be rehabilitated, must be given new leases of life, their humanity must be restored and those who perpetrate those morally depraving acts must be sent to jail, by the grace of the judiciary.”
Commending his wife, Dr Martha Emmanuel for her efforts to reduce sexual abuses and other forms of gender-based violence in the state, the governor expressed optimism that the all-in-one centre would provide the needed succour and restore humanity to victims of GBV.
Also speaking, the wife of the governor and chairman, Gender-Based Violence Management Committee, Dr Martha Udom Emmanuel explained that the committee has committed much effort and resources to create awareness on the issue, saying the centre would provide refuge and succour to victims of gender-based violence.
“We stand here to commission and open our signature and the biggest of our accomplishments, the building and commissioning of the State Gender-Based Violence Centre, built out of love and the desire to provide a safe place for victims of sexual and gender-based violence and where they can learn a skill whilst trying to pick up the pieces of their lives.
“This facility is a 60-bed edifice, which will provide for many, not only shelter, easy access to justice, medical interventions and skill acquisitions but also provide comfort, succour and hope to those whose homes have become torture chambers.
“Those whose parents, guardians, spouses and neighbours have become their abusers and those who have become preys to perverts.
“Today, a dream has come true, as we have, as a state, reached out and touched the vulnerable, the tortured, the abused and the violated,” she explained.
The centre is designed to provide easy access to justice, medical interventions and skills, extend comfort and succour, as well as hope to those whose homes have become torture chambers.