Bayelsa: Govt condemns violence against women, children

Bayelsa State Government has urged the relevant stakeholders to join hands with the administration to curb the menace of violence against women, children and the vulnerable.

Commissioner for Information, Orientation and Strategy, Ayiba Duba, made the call when he received members of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Bayelsa State Branch, in his office, Yenagoa.

Duba stated that women, children, and the vulnerable had become easy targets for people to prey on, noting that because of their vulnerable disposition, they are physically, sexually and mentally abused as well as exploited.

The commissioner emphasized it was the duty of the government and the larger society to protect such persons from predators.

Duba charged parents and guardians to adequately care for their children and wards by inculcating moral values in them to stem the increasing rate of vices among young persons.

Duba stressed that perpetrators of violence against women, children and the vulnerable should be held accountable for their crimes, to serve as a deterrent to others.

He, therefore, charged members of FIDA to concentrate on grassroots advocacy to build a saner society, adding that government was ready to partner them to curb all forms of abuse.

Speaking, chairperson of FIDA, BTariere Egbegi, noted that the mandate of the organisation was to promote, protect and preserve the rights and wellbeing of women and children through extant legislations in the State.

Egbegi requested for government collaboration to take the campaign against domestic violence and child abuse to the grassroots.

In another development, the state government said there was no such plan by the government or any of its agencies to sell the gas turbines at Imiringi community in Ogbia Local Government Area.

The government said it rather wanted to rehabilitate it so that power could be restored in the area before the end of this year.

It said the recent protest by stakeholders in the community was as a result of lack of proper information as there was absolutely no reason to worry.

Following the protest, the Chief of Staff, Government House, Chief Benson Agadaga, initiated a meeting involving all stakeholders including the management of Bayelsa Electricity Board, Commissioner for Power and Water Resources, chiefs and youths of Imiringi to clear the air and dispel the rumour.

Director of the Bayelsa state Electricity Board, Olice Kemenanabo, at the meeting presided by Agadaga, said he had the approval of Governor Douye Diri to rehabilitate the turbines for optimal efficiency.

He said there was no cause to fear as the government was committed to ensuring steady power to the area.

Representatives of the Ogbia Brotherhood and that of His Royal Majesty, King Owaba and the Ogbia Brotherhood Youth Wing, had raised concerns that they were not carried along.

Agadaga thanked all the stakeholders for their understanding and assured them that the repair work was in the best interest of the state.

Meanwhile, the Commisioner for Environment, Iselema Gbaranbiri, has reiterated government’s readiness to implement the Environment and Development Planning Authority Law in the view to frontally tackle the environmental degradation bedeviling the state’s environment.

Gbaranbiri gave the assurance while receiving the leadership of the Association of Environmental Lawyers in his office in Yenagoa.

While addressing the team, he noted that about three to four decades ago, environmental degradation was a sole cause of the international oil companies operation in the region but now it had earned to itself the collaboration of illegal oil refineries amongst deforestation and use of explosives in the pollution business.

According to him, a pollution free environment is life and that man must give proper attention to his environment while engaging in human activities that works contrary to natural preservation order should be guarded with conservative practices.