Centre for Social Justice, CSJ, is partnering with the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) for the implementation of a European Union supported project titled “Budgeting for gender-based violence” in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The lead director of CSJ, Eze Onyekpere, who led an advocacy visit to the leadership of NAPTIP at its headquarters in Abuja, said the project is targeting an FCT that is fully responsive to gender-based violence (GBV) and hence, the need for capacity building for ministries and agencies.
He explained that capacity building for ministries, department and agencies (MDAs) on budgeting for the reduction of GBV was part of the core objectives of the project.
Represented by the programme manager, Public Finance Management, Fidelis Onyejegbu, Onyekpere however, stressed the need for policy, plan, budget continuum in budget making, saying that this will ensure that core issues of the agency’s mandate are aptly captured in the annual budget.
Quoting the NDHS and MICS, (2016-17) Onyekpere noted that the figure for the number of women who have experienced physical violence exceeds the national average.
In her response, the director general of NAPTIP, Dr. Fatima Waziri-Azi, thanked the CSJ for the collaboration, which she described as timely, while disclosing that there is no budgetary allocation for the Violence Against Persons (prohibition) Act (VAPP).
Represented by the director, VAAP department, Ijeoma Amugo, the DG said “After the enactment of the VAAP act, there was no budgetary allocation. So you see. This your intervention is quite timely because it is something that we will use to make sure that we get that allocation to make sure that our work is more effective and make sure that all those people who perpetuate these violence against these people are brought to book and the victims too are rehabilitated and reintegrated.”
