CLEEN Foundation, an NGO, has trained 30 gender Desk Officers of the Nigeria Police Force and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Akure, on strategies to help mitigate and mediate around sexual gender-based violence.

Mr Salaudeen Hashim, Director of the Programme in the Foundation, said the training became necessary because of prevalent violations that came around sexual Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and issues of ritualists in the country.

According to him, the essence of the training is to ensure our society is actually rid of the gender violation crisis and tackling those using gender as a weapon of war in the society.

Hashim explained that the participant officers were drawn from the 18 states of the south.

He said that the behavioural change and influence attitude towards gender crisis would come to play in the mind of people.

“If our gender Desk Officers applied the knowledge gained from this training, the issues of rape or ritualists will become a thing of past.

“Because violence against children, especially where people slept with their own daughters or someone’s daughter has become something that is on increase daily.

“So we think doing this training will help us to manage the kind of crisis and narrative,” he said.

The director of the programme, therefore, called on officers not to use emotion to deal with the GBV but use knowledge to admonish people to desist from sleeping with their daughters or beating their wives.

“Our officers must deal with every gender-based issue from a point of knowledge and not from emotions because it is better to use knowledge to provide solutions.

“Sleeping with small girls does not bring anybody money and if ritualists told you that sleeping with your daughter or a girl of seven years will bring money, it is just a lie
“Or someone told you that beating your wife is a way of being a man does not happen anywhere,” he said.

Speaking, Superintendent of Corps, Ajetkemi Alao, Head, Gender Unit National Headquarters of NSCDC, said that the training would give the trainees more opportunity to react and intervene on GBV in Nigeria.

Alao, who described the NSCDC as responsible organisation, said the corps was ready to support and protect the female child and male child in any case of GBV.

“If we are not there to mitigate or eradicate, it is going to bring Nigeria itself to stand still because GBV is one of the criminal activities in Nigeria which must be curbed,” she said.

Source: News Agency Nigeria