Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said Tuesday that there there is the need to intensify the engagements of state governments across the country in order to deepen the advocacy to end violence against women.
Osinbajo stated this while receiving Mrs Leymah Gbowee, the Liberian activist who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 for non-violent struggle, safety and women’s rights.
“Driving prosecution for sex offenders is best done at the state level, particularly strengthening the States to do so at the National Economic Council,” he said.
The vice president emphasised the need for state governments to exercise political will in order to get the desired results, and provide the necessary funding to implement the campaign to end violence against women.
With respect to the Sex Offenders Register, the vice president said: “It was something that needed a lot of attention, changing the orientation of men in particular, to understand it’s a campaign that must be championed by men.”
In her remarks, Mrs Leymah Gbowee expressed concern over the prevalence of rape in and out of conflict zones with impunity across Africa, stating that the successful launch of the sex offenders register in Nigeria is a huge milestone and Nigeria has set the precedence for other African countries to follow.
