By Ojo Oluwafemi
The Wife of Ondo State Governor, Betty Anyanwu- Akeredolu has again reiterated her commitment to ending all forms of sexual and gender-based violence with the launch of yellow Card Initiative among girls in public secondary schools and the establishment of an SGBV Emergency Response Center with Toll free numbers.
The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that the year 2020 International Day for the elimination of violence against women was organised by the Betty Anyanwu Akeredolu Foundation (BAAF), a Non-Govermental Organization.
Mrs Betty Akeredolu made this known on Wednesday at the kick start of 16 Days activism against Gender-Based Violence in Akure.
The Governor’s Wife who was represented by BAAF team lead by Mr Austin Otabor said the event is an annual international campaign which kicks off on November 25 every year to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against women and climaxes on December 10, the global Human Rights Day.
She said the event started in 1991 by activists during the inaugural Women’s Global Leadership Institute and is coordinated every year by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership.
She stressed that the aim is to organize strategy by individuals and organizations around the world to call for the prevention and elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls.
According to her, the Yellow Card and establishment of an SGBV Emergency Response Center with Toll free numbers was officially launched yesterday, November 25, 2020 and is aimed at eliminating all forms of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) among girls attending public secondary schools in Ondo state.
“It has 3 strategic objectives: raise awareness on SGBV among young girls, instill a protective perception on the girls, and increase confidential reporting of cases of SGBV.
The Yellow Card in itself is an intervention card designed in analogy with the football yellow card, which is often used to caution players and prevent violence in the game.
The pilot phase of the programme includes an SGBV survey and will see 2000 young girls randomly selected from 10 public schools in Ondo state receive a copy each of the SGBV Yellow Card.
So far, three schools namely Fiwasaye Girls Grammar School, Akure Secondary Commercial School and Ijo Mimo-Oluwa High school, all located in Akure South Local Government Area (LGA) have benefitted from the programme.
The management and students of the schools received the initiative with utmost excitement and hoped that Yellow Cards received by their students will be immediately put to use and also serve as a deterrent to SGBV predators in the State.
“The pilot continues tomorrow Nov.27, 2020 in Akure North and Owo as part of the United Nations 16 days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence and the scale up is expected to reach out to all public secondary schools in Ondo state” Mrs Akeredolu said.
She further noted that the response Center on the other hand has consistently been a link between the community and government in efforts to eliminate violence against women and girls and connects callers with emergency medico-legal support as well as security and policing in relation to SGBV.
“As part of the success stories, today also saw the effective handling of a case of domestic violence from Owo LGA.
This will be the second case of domestic violence resolved by the center in less than a month with support from the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC).
“The Office of the Wife of the Governor in Ondo state remains committed to ending all forms of sexual and gender-based violence in Ondo state and will continue to engage government agencies, international organizations and private individuals to achieve this goal” She noted.
