Bauchi State Ministry of Justice, has called on Students across tertiary institutions in Bauchi State to break the tradition of silence and speak out against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) on their campuses.
The Ministry however reiterated that having been saddled with the responsibility of making sure justice was done to everyone, it will continue to defend the human rights of everyone including offenders until pronounced guilty of charged offence by the court of competent jurisdiction.
The call was made by the Solicitor General and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice, Barr Sabiu Adamu Gumba, while speaking at a One-day Sensitization Campaign organized by the Ministry of Justice in collaboration with the Faculty of Environmental Technology, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi, supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), on the VAPP Law and other relevant law protecting citizens against GBV in tertiary institutions of Bauchi State.
Represented by Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), the Solicitor General /Permanent Secretary said that, both the offender of the violence to the society and to the abuser in GBV situations need protection until the end of the case.
He explained that the VAPP law was passed in 2022, under which there are some certain offences, which include intimidation, assault, rape, cyber crime and others that have negative effects on women, children and vulnerable.
According to him, “So, there many things that are there, but they attract severe punishment when found wanting. So, we are here today not to talk about the constitutional law, but we are here now just to enlighten, to sensitize, to engage, and to partner with you on gender-based violence, so that whenever things like that happens, you are to speak up.”
He assured that, “We at the Ministry of Justice want you, we are talking to you now as a fathers, brothers, and sister, so that to partner with you. So as a students of the Faculty of Environmental Technology, ATBU, particularly, or in general, is a peaceful environment, where a student can attain his desired discipline in the environmental science, engineering.”
“So, we are here to enlighten you, so that you will not trade sex for marks. Don’t trade sex for personal aggravation. So don’t trade sex for cheating, or what have you. We are here to advise you, to enlighten even the management staff that are here, the Academic Staff here and the non-academic staff here, such that whenever the incident occurs, speak up. Speak up. Don’t remain silent.”
Sabiu Adamu Gumba declared that,
“Your silence did not in any way protect the offender. It even encourages the offender. So, speak out, expose the offender in order to protect yourselves and other innocent people,” he added.
Speaking earlier, the Dean, Faculty of Environment Technology, Prof Adamu Babayo, expressed delight with the sensitization campaign which he said will expose the University Community to issues around GBV.
He said, “And really, for me and for some of us that we discussed the issue of GBV, we felt, yes, we have been doing things and propagating issues amongst ourselves as staff and amongst ourselves as students without knowing the consequences of what our actions could be in consideration to gender-sensitive violations and gender norms.”
The Dean added, “While at the end of that discussion, we realized that yes, truly, there are issues that we do that are either harmful or injurious to our partners as students or as staff. And in the end we realized that if we could select the members, particularly the students and staff that will participate in this programme, it will go a long way in deepening down the message.”
He said that,”Because the students here are selected from all the levels, from 100 level to 500 level, and we make sure there are two students per department and per programme. So we have a large sizable number of students participating this morning, and we feel that yes, at the end of this one-day exercise, we will sink down the message down to our friends, down to our colleagues, and even take it back home.”
According to him,”The message will be that, look, if you execute this or you prosecute this, it is called gender violence, and certainly you will be injuring your colleague or you will be injuring your partner in this way. And I am sure that at the end we will all be happy to be participants of this programme, and possibly we will sink down the message by way of reorganizing ourselves in the Faculty to ensure that students get it right and are able to handle this gender-sensitive violence.”
He concluded, “You know, gender based violence is both ways. You don’t think because it is stated gender and you think because you are female, you are the one affected. No, the male partner is also part of it. He could also be affected. In addition, this is a programme that we are trying to anchor so that we now bring in more hands of the University.”
In her remarks, Executive Director of Journalists for Public Health and Development Initiative (J4PD), Elizabeth Carr, urged the students and staff to ensure that any known issue of GBV was not covered up in order to save others.
Represented by Bulak Afsa, the ED stressed that issues of GBV on campuses must not be ignored but exposed in order to serve as deterrent for others and protect the dignity of the victims.
Elizabeth Carr assured that as Journalists, members of the J4PD will do everything professionally right to fight GBV on the campuses across the state.
There were goodwill messages from the Ministry of Budget, Economic Planning and Multilateral Coordination as well as that of Health and Social Welfare, who all commended the programme as it will go a long way in the fight against GBV on campus.
Some of the students commended the Ministry of Justice for bringing the sensitization campaign to their campus saying that they have learnt great things about GBV than what they knew before.
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