By Halimah Olamide
President, Lawyers Alert, and Human Rights Activist, Rommymom, has stated that rape is at its highest today due to laws not being implemented to curb such vices.
He made the assertion on day 9 of Wole Soyinka Center for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ), 16-Day Activism Against Gender-Based Violence on Sunday.
The online event which was themed: “Gender Policies and Bills in Nigeria” was moderated by TVC news correspondent and journalist, Tijesu Adeoye.
Remmymom further urged that women should also be at the forefront of their struggle, as they only can tell their plights and stories better.
“Women should be at the forefront of their own struggle
“If we implement just 30% of the laws we have, the plight of our women will change by a great percentage and a positive impact will follow.
“It is the lack of implementation that is the problem not making more laws, let’s implement the ones we have first.” He said.
Fabia Ogunmekan, a lawyer, on her part, stated that as long as laws bordering on violence against women are yet to be domesticated, then the effects and benefits of such laws will not be enjoyed.
She also stated that women participating and involving themselves in the political space will also make it easy to bring up conversations around gender-based violence.
“The reason why it is important for women to participate politically and have political enfranchisement is to ensure that things like gender-based violence can be legislated for.
“A lot of these issues really sit at the heart of women and while we have a lot of great male allies, you bring to the issues that are your pain points.” She concluded.