House of Reps Speaker Gbajabiamila commends BAHA Speaker’s stride on VAPP bill

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajbiamila has commended Abubakar Y Suleiman, Speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly for sponsoring a bill to domesticate Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act in Bauchi State.

He made the commendation on Tuesday during a virtual meeting held with Speakers of Bauchi, Ekiti, Edo and Plateau States among others.

The meeting which was conducted via zoom followed a commitment made by the Speaker two weeks ago when he met with some civil society organisations over the rising cases of sexual and gender-based violence across the country.

Speaker Gbajabiamila who said he was highly impressed with Bauchi Speaker’s concern and commitment toward ending rape and other violence against persons urged all States of the federation to domesticate the Child Rights Act and the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act.

In his remarks, Speaker Abubakar Y Suleiman said he decided to personally sponsor the VAPP bill because of his concern on the rising cases of rape, political thuggery and other violence against persons in Bauchi State and the Country at large.

According to him, his colleagues in Bauchi Assembly have unanimously accepted the bill which is currently at public hearing stage after passing first and second readings.

The zoom meeting resolved that the Bauchi Speaker who is also the Chairman of Conference of Speakers of Northeast States should lead in soliciting the commitment of other states in the North to emulate his actions by reviewing the two laws and domesticating them according to their local context.

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Responding to the mandate given to him during the meeting, Abubakar Suleiman pledged to contact other Speakers of the Northeast region on the matter.

The meeting also resolved that the House of Representatives will work with state legislatures to sensitize key response actors and consider other protective laws as well as strengthen existing government agencies that have the mandate to protect and prosecute perpetrators of heinous crimes of sexual and gender based violence in all forms.