YOUTH Initiative for Advocacy, Growth and Advancement (YIAGA Africa) has commended Adamawa Governor Ahmad Fintiri for signing the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Bill into law in the state.
Yiaga Africa, in a statement signed by its Director of Programs Cynthia Mbamalu, stated that the VAPP Act importantly protected and prohibited all forms of violence against women and girls in Nigeria.
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“With the signing of the VAPP Act into law, Adamawa State becomes the 17th state to adopt the law since it was passed and assented to in May 2015.”
The Adamawa State House of Assembly had, in March 2021, passed the VAPP Bill to prohibit all forms of violence against persons in private and public life.
Yiaga Africa noted that it had, with the support of the European Union through its United Nations Spotlight Initiative project, campaigned for the passage and signing of the bill into law in Adamawa State before it eventually happened.
“Specifically, in June 2021, Yiaga Africa organised an advocacy strategy workshop, bringing together civil society partners, the media, other key influencers and champions of women and girls rights in the state assembly, to design strategies for the executive assent to the bill.”
Yiaga Africa added that the bill would contribute to ensuring that violence against women and girls in Adamawa State was totally eliminated.
“We also commend the efforts of civil society organisations, community-based organisations, individuals, and other groups that have pushed for the passage of the VAPP act and its signing into law in Adamawa State.”
The organisation, however, said that Fintiri’s decision would encourage other states that were yet to domesticate the law to do so as soon as possible.
'Niyi worked with The ICIR as an Investigative Reporter and Fact-checker from 2020 till September 2022. You can shoot him an email via [email protected]. You can as well follow him on Twitter via @niyi_oyedeji.