A Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) has been established in Ekiti State, where victims of rape and other molestations will receive medical and psychological attention.
The state government has also assured residents that the state government would strengthen the adopted policy of naming and shaming perpetrators of rape by publishing their photographs on the state’s website and pasting them on palace walls.
The wife of the Ekiti State governor, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, disclosed this on Friday while making a presentation on the floor of the Assembly during an advocacy visit to expand the frontiers of gender-based violence (GBV) prevention in the state. According to Erelu Fayemi, the referral centre, located within the premises of the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Ado Ekiti, would provide well-guided and discreet medical support for survivors.
“The SARC will be operational soon. It will attend to GBV survivors in a prompt, discreet and professional manner. Discussions have been held with Council Chairmen to replicate SARC in all their local governments”, she said.
Mrs Fayemi commended the Assembly for the passage of the Gender-based Violence Bill 2019 and the compulsory treatment and care for Sexually Assaulted Minors Bill 2020, saying these would help in fast-tracking actions against GBV. “We are ready to strengthen this aspect of naming and shaming of perpetrators of rape on the social media and in our palaces because it was embedded in our cultural practices not to cover up perpetrators of evil,” she added.
Mrs Fayemi disclosed that a GBV committee comprising the police, traditional rulers, religious bodies and non-governmental organisations had been set up to take the fight to the community level, where there was high rate of rape and domestic violence. The Speaker, Ekiti State House of Assembly, Funminiyi Afuye, applauded Erelu Fayemi for her strides in women empowerment and emancipation, saying she had etched her name in gold as a campaigner for respect for human dignity and protection of the female gender.
The House Chairman, House Committee on Women Affairs, Kemi Balogun, advised churches, mosques and cultural groups to join the efforts against rape.
“I agree with the suggestion that there must be capital punishment for perpetrators of rape and other molestations against any gender. The police, judiciary and parents must play their parts in this regard,” Baligun said.
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