A non-governmental organisation, Partners West African of Nigeria (PWAN), has said most law enforcement agencies are not aware and enlightened on the various laws and Acts which empower them to handle Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) cases.
The programme manager of the organization, Kpeta Toyo, stated this while presenting the report of their research in six states over the weekend in Abuja.
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He noted that the agencies were not aware of the Child Rights Act, Violations Against Person Prohibitions Act (VAPP) as well as the penal code.
The states researched were Borno, Benue, Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Kano, Ogun and the FCT.
She said because they do not know about the laws and acts empowering them to investigate the cases, they hardly brought perpetrators to justice.
Toyo noted that during the research, it was discovered that rape, wife battery, incest and defilement were common forms of SGBV cases in the society but that the capacity of the law enforcement agencies to respond to such cases was low.
On her part, the Executive Director of the organization, Mrs Kemi Okenyodo, said the focus of the research was to ensure that law enforcement agencies were empowered with the necessary laws to always bring perpetrators of SGBV cases to justice.
