Comrade Issa Aremu on Tuesday said gender based violence such as rape should be treated like a pandemic with the solidarity of all stakeholders to tackle it in the society.

Aremu made this known on Tuesday in Ilorin at an event to commemorate the International Women’s Day.

Aremu, who is also the Vice President, Industrial Global Union, challenged African women to partner with progressive forces to transform the continent from mass poverty to prosperity for all.

He said “violence against women is an injury to all”.

According to him, the crisis has highlighted centrality of the contributions and the disproportionate burdens women carry in society.

While commending the efforts of Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, the labour leader who was also the 2019 Labour Party Governorship Candidate hailed the mass appointment of women by President Muhammadu Buhari.

He said that women in public office must change the narrative of Nigeria from that of a failing society to a strong and prosperous country that served all not just the rich and powerful in the society.

He called on the public to handle all the challenges facing Nigeria just the way the COVID-19 had been handled.

He said that the challenges include gender based violence, banditry and insecurity.

“If we can tame COVID-19, we should be able to tame other challenges with the right attitude.’’

Aremu also commended the Nigerian media and describing them as one of the best.

He advised them to be objective in their reporting now that  the going was tough for the nation.

“I will also advice the media to be more objective in their reporting because increasingly, we are replacing objectivity with subjectivity.

“My fear is that we try to magnify more of imperfection, while dampening the good performance,” Aremu said.