…Says, SGBV affects female Parliamentarians.

by Achadu Gabriel, Kaduna

About 50 Kaduna-based media practitioners have received introductory training on Effective Media Sensitive Reporting and Strengthening Understanding of the Dynamics of Sexual and Gender Base Violence (SGBV).

The one-day training, held on Thursday, was organised by an NGO, known as ‘Women Situation Room Nigeria’ (WSRN), in Kaduna State.

During the training, the resources person, Mr. Timothy Laurence, took participants through the hurdles and challenges facing women, including female Parliamentarians, which she said has contributed immensely to poor participation of women in politics.

In an interview, Mr. Timothy Laurence, who is Program Manager of Legacy/Gussu Institute, said they decided to work with WSRN because of the cases of SGBV they received constantly, particularly against women in politics.

“The reason why we decided to work with WSRN is that, often time, we have cases of SGBV, particularly against women in politics; but a lot of this issues are unreported, and not addressed they way and manner it should be addressed. 

“So, by this meeting we are trying to encourage the media to see how they can go and be more deliberate in their reportage and be more sensitive when it comes to issues affecting women in politics.

“Cases of abuse of female Parliamentarians are happening but not formally reported, and their little one can do about. But some of these interventions have been well treated at grassroots and community levels. 

“Women are encouraged to be more resilience and be more dogged not to allow the space only for the male folks. We are all in it together; no one is more equal to participate in the electoral process,” he said.

He, therefore, called on women to come out en mass to exercise their legitimate rights to voting in the 2023 elections, and called on media to beam their searchlight on some of the cases of molestation, abuses, and intimidation affecting women.