FG reiterates commitment to reintegrating victims of insurgence

The Federal Government says it will set up “Safe Places’’ and response teams in strategic locations to provide psycho-social support to victims of insurgency and other violence crimes in the North East.

Hajis Hadiza Aminu, the Technical Assistant on Sustainable Millennium Goals (SDGs) to the Vice President told  Newsmen in Abuja on the sideline of an interactive forum.

Hadiza spoke at the launch of a video documentary of the North East of Nigeria to commemorate the 2018 International Women’s Day with the theme: “Press for Progress’’.

The event was put together by a Consortium Response of International NGOs for supporting persons affected by the humanitarian crises in the North East.

“What we are trying to do is to set up response teams in the country, specifically in the North East to ensure that the response teams or the sexual harassment referral centres provide counselling services to victims of violence and vulnerable populations.’’

The technical assistant said that the Federal Government was working to ensure that victims found retribution in an effective judicial system.

“We want to be able to provide legal support and access to justice so that victims can find retribution for what has happened to them.

“We want to provide the psycho-social support that women and girls need to be able to deal with such situations,” she said.

NAN reports that the Coalition of International Non-government Organisations (INGO), under the auspices of the Nigeria Joint Response (NJR), is currently executing the fourth phase of its intervention in the North East.

The Consortium Coordinator of NJR, Eta Mbog Ngole, noted that the gender gap in the North East needed to be bridged for any intervention programme to be effective.

“There is a wide inequality between men and women so we are trying to raise awareness on the need to bridge the gender gap in the North East.

“This will make those providing responses in the area aware of what it requires to provide gender-sensitive care to victims and vulnerable people to empower women,” he said.

He observed that security challenges and highly mobile displaced population had necessitated state actor’s support to make sure NGOs and other bodies had access to vulnerable people.

“Even when we have access, we should keep in mind that we need programming which gender-sensitive requires because men, women, boys and girls have different needs,” he said.

A 15-minute video documentary titled: Shelter in the Storm was aired at the event to highlight the plights of victims of insurgence and the NJR’s efforts.