By Williams Danjuma, Gombe
Gombe State Deputy Governor, Manasseh Daniel Jatau (Ph.D), has decried the rising cases of human rights violations suffered by women in the State.
He made the lamentation on Tuesday when he received the Gombe State Coordinator of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Dr. Joseph Kwanshe, and his management team when they paid him a courtesy call.
He cited cases of gender-based violence, humiliation of widows by their husbands’ family members, and neglect of family responsibilities by some husbands.
He said, “almost one hundred per cent of the complaints I receive concerning family issues are from women”, noting that the establishment of the Commission is laudable, noble and humanistic.
According to him, “Your task is enormous because issues of human rights violation are always on the increase, some people engages in drug abuse because their rights have been violated in one way or the other and you can see that drug abuse has now became a very big challenge that affect the society in general.
“Many people are not happy either with the Government or individuals and when people are aggrieved, then your commission has a lot to do in curtailing possible outbreak of law and order”, he opined.
Dr. Jatau also stressed the importance of information in creating public awareness and challenged the Commission to intensify its publicity activities to enable people to know about its presence and mandate in the state.
He said, “your organisation’s aims and objectives are laudable, noble and humanistic that its activities can not be to any body or operate in isolation and I assure you that Government is ready to partner with you”.
Earlier, the State Coordinator, Dr. Joseph Kwanshe, said the visit was to familiarise himself with the state Government, having recently been posted to the state.
He explained that the Commission, which came into being in 2010, began its operations in 2014, and highlighted its mandates, especially the protection of the rights of the people.
The coordinator noted that the Commission could not achieve its aims and objectives without synergising with the Government, hence the visit to seek for partnership.
He said the Commission was ready to partner with the Gombe State Government on security by mainstreaming the human rights angle and providing data that would serve as early warning signs for preventing possible crises before they occur.
According to him, “the Commission is conducting research on issues surrounding divorce, vulnerable groups, displaced persons and child abandonment, with a view to providing data and the necessary information for appropriate Government’s action”.
He therefore called on the State Government to provide the Commission with the opportunity to participate in the State’s Security Council meetings, so that it could contribute to the security and peace-building efforts of the administration.
Leave a comment