Group urges youths engagement to end GBV

The Initiative for Leadership Development and Change (ILDC), an NGO, has called for the engagement of  youths in the fight to end Gender Based Violence (GBV).

The National Coordinator of the group, Chief Ugochukwu Nnam, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Thursday.

Nnam said that only direct engagement of the youths in the fight against violence against women and girls would achieve the desired result.

“This is because the youths are very important in the fight against GBV and naturally active.

“Moreover, they are the major actors in the discourse because they constitute 90 per cent of both victims and perpetrators.”

The national coordinator, who condemned all forms of violence against women and girls, said the youths ought to be at the forefront of the war against GBV.

According to him, it is important to actively involve the youths so that they will not only champion the war against the menace, but amplify the dangers of domestic violence, rape and other forms of violence against the female gender.

Nnam expressed the determination of ILDC to partner relevant bodies to strengthen the campaign against GBV.

He added that “harmful traditional practices such as Female Genital Mutilation, child marriage are inimical not just to the girl child’s development but the country at large.”

He, therefore, emphasised the need to allow the girl child and women to harness their full potential as their male counterparts.