Adolescent girls in Katsina State have demanded the immediate establishment of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) referral centres across the 34 local government areas of the state.

The girls, who are beneficiaries of Save Children’s Safe Space Adolescent Girls programme, spoke at an event to commemorate the International Women’s Day held in Katsina.

The state government has established a GBV centre  in the state capital following the signing of Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) and the Child Protection Act into law by Governor Dikko Umaru Radda.

But the girls said there was a need for the state government to extend the gender-based violence centres to the state’s 34 local governments to adequately tackle cases of violence against girls and women.

One of the girls, Aisha Muhammed from Sandamu Local Government, said cases of gender-based violence were more rampant in villages and communities of the state hence the need for the visibility of such centres at grassroots level.

She said the establishment of the centres would assist girls who have been raped or sexually assaulted in the areas of forensic examinations, arrest of the culprit and provide counselling services to the victims.

She added that traditional and religious leaders must ensure that their communities are safe havens for survivors and must hand over perpetrators of gender-based violence to law enforcement agencies.

Another adolescent girl, Nana Masa’ud from Rimi Local Government, urged the general public to stop shaming survivors of GBV, saying: “We must protect them and be more proactive in assisting them to access service centres.”

However, Aisha and Nana are among many adolescent girls in Katsina State who are receiving training under the Save the Children Integrated Health and Nutrition project (IHN) funded by Cuppy Foundation through the Otedola family.

The project is aimed at providing health, nutrition, child protection and education support services to adolescent girls aged 10 to 19 in Katsina, Adamawa and Borno States.

Culled from ThisDay