Kano Govt Urged To Domesticate Violence Against Women Law

The founder and executive director of Lift Africa Foundation, Barr Aisha Hamman, has appealed to the Kano State government to domesticate the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act (VAPP), warning that continued delay was worsening the vulnerability of women, children and other at-risk groups in the state.

Hamman spoke at the weekend in Kano during a Gender Justice Summit, held at the Centre of Excellence, Bayero University, Kano.

She said Kano’s failure to domesticate the VAPP Act, 10 years after its enactment at the federal level, has left survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) with weak legal protection and limited access to justice.

Hamman said violence against women and girls remains a lived reality in homes, schools, markets and digital spaces, stressing that Kano, with an estimated population of over 15 million people, operates only one Sexual Assault Referral Centre serving its 44 local government areas.

“This gap is not just legal; it is human. Every delay means a survivor without redress, a girl withdrawn from school and a family left to suffer in silence,” Hamman said.

She disclosed that Lift Africa Foundation has reintegrated over 3,000 children into education, supported justice processes that secured 32 convictions in Kano and 86 across northern Nigeria, and empowered more than 5,000 women with livelihood support.

According to her, the foundation also championed the advocacy that produced the harmonised VAPP provisions now embedded in the Kano State Penal Code Amendment Bill 2021.

Hamman urged the state legislature to expedite the passage of the bill, describing it as a defining test of leadership and commitment to justice.

Also at the event, the commander-general of the Kano Hisbah Board, Sheikh Aminu Daurawa, represented by Malam Gaddafi Mujiburrahmah, said all forms of violence and abuse contradict Islamic principles of justice and human dignity.

He said within one week, the Hisbah Board handled 49 matrimonial disputes and 39 civil cases requiring mediation, highlighting the growing scale of domestic conflicts in the state.