Nigeria: Lagos to curb violence against women

    Hundreds of women have in Lagos
gathered to reflect on the significant
of the International Women's Day in
the context of the prevailing
challenges of poverty of the Nigerian
woman. The event was organized by
the Community Peoples Initiative
Against AIDS (COPEAIDS) in
collaboration with the Office of the
Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde
Raji Fashola.
The theme of this year's celebration
by the United Nations was tagged,
"A promise is a promise, time for
action to end violence against
women is now'. However the Lagos
audience focused on 'HIV,
Environmental Protection and
Sustainable Livelihood in Lagos'.
Dr Joe Okei Odumakin, the leader of
Campaign for Democracy, (CD) and
coordinator of Women Arise, said it
was time for Nigerian women to
press for fundamental changes that
would uplift them from a state of
economic and political depression.
Odumakin was represented at the
occasion by Mr Gbenga Ganzalo.
Speaking at the event which drew
women from across the country, the
Executive Director of the Community
Peoples Initiative Against, AIDS
(COPEAIDS), Mrs Feyisike Adeoye
'who spoke on the 'Environmental
Livelihood, and the Challenges of
Women in a Developing Economy",
said the forms of violence against
women in Nigeria have seen
correspondent rise in the spread of
HIV and AIDS in Nigeria. She said law
enforcement authorities are
responding to the issue of violence
against women but not with the
speed anticipated the victims of
injustice.
"It delights our hearts to see that
there is the increasing
understanding that environmental
sustainability is liked with the fight
against deadly diseases including
the HIV and AIDs scourge. We need
to rise with greater strength against
high fatality rate among women, the
problems of social dislocation, the
challenges of taboos and how they
affect women and the generation
social and political policies that tend
to push women to lowest path of
the ladder", she told the
representatives drawn from labour,
civil society, women groups and the
media.
The representative of the Lagos State
Government, Dr (Mrs) Lateefat
Adeleye, said the state government
has improved in the fight against
violence saying that authorities in
the state are meeting local and
global expectations in the campaign
against HIV and AIDS and the
violence that target women.