Kogi House of Assembly has passed the Violence Against Persons Prohibitions (VAPP) Bill to stem violence in the state.

The bill also prescribes life imprisonment for rapists.

The bill’s passage followed the adoption of the joint Committees on Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Judiciary and Justice’s report on the bill presented at plenary on Monday, in Lokoja.

The Committee on Women Affairs’ Chairman, Abubakar Tanko Mohammed (APC-Kogi/Koto), presented the report and considered clause-by-clause by the legislators at the Committee of the Whole.

The bill provides for the elimination of “Violence in Private and Public Life, Prohibition of all Forms of Violence Against Persons, Protection of Victims and Punishment for Offenders in Kogi State and Other Matters Connected therewith 2021.”

The bill recommends life imprisonment for “aiding and abetting same for the actual offender, upon conviction.”

The private bill sponsored by Challenged Parenthood Initiative (CPI), with support from the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and ActionAid Nigeria (AAN), was first introduced in 2019 to serve as a legal tool for protection, especially of women and girls, from all forms of violence.

In the lead debate on the bill, Mr Mohammed said, “The purpose of the VAPP Bill is to eliminate violence in our private and public lives, to prohibit all forms of violence against persons and to provide maximum protection and effective remedies for the victims and punishment to the offenders.”

According to him, data collated and analysed by the CPI revealed that 85.7 per cent of the voters were victims of violence during the governorship election.

He added, “It was further revealed that existing laws in the state did not cover all forms of the offence. That is why perpetrators of violence were not prosecuted, and many individuals could not access justice.”

(NAN)