Stakeholders in Nasarawa State have advocated the setting up of stringent measures aimed at tackling gender-based violence and child abuse in the mining sector across the state to improve livelihood in the rural areas.
They made the call at the opening of a three-day training for service providers on Gender-Based Violence against women in mining in Lafia the Nasarawa State capital.
The service providers on gender-based violence at the training include community-based civil society organizations, security agencies, the National Human Rights Commission and the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons to provide solutions toward checking violence against women in mining.
Nasarawa State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Labaran Magaji in a remark at the training, told the participants that cases of sexual-related violence against women in most mining sites across the 13 Local Government areas of the state had continued to rise unabated.
The Commissioner represented by the Director of Public Defender, Gender Based Violence of the Ministry, Mrs. Justina Alu stated that the state government would deploy resources to ensure that the rights of women who desire to earn a living in the mining sector were adequately protected.
The President and Founder, Women in Mining in Nigeria Initiative, and organizers of the event, Dr Janet Adeyemi represented by the National Vice President, Amb. Mrs Regina Edzuwah, explained that the training would enrich the stakeholders with the basic skills on how to engage women in mining who are victims of rape and other gender-based violence to speak up and process their complaints with the appropriate authorities.
Some of the participants in the training Mrs Patience Samson and Mr Jonah Aboki emphasized the need for strong and efficient punitive measures against perpetrators of violence against women at the mining sites in all parts of the state.
The Nasarawa State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development Hajiya Aisha Rufa’i stressed the need for traditional institutions, religious and youth bodies to step up vigilance and information sharing on activities around the mining sites in their communities as they relate to women and children.
The training featured discussion as well as question and answer sessions.