The Bauchi State Police Command has revealed that it recorded a total of 149 cases of gender-based violence across the State last year, adding that 257 suspected perpetrators were arrested in connection with the cases.
This was revealed on Tuesday by the command’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ahmed Mohammed Wakil, at a five-day training of senior officers of the Nigeria Police and the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on human rights and gender-based violence.
The training, which commenced on Monday at the Yankari Game Reserve in Bauchi, was organised by a nongovernmental organization (NGO), Society for Family Health (SFH) in collaboration with the Bauchi State Agency for the Control of HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Leprosy and Malaria (BACATMA) and Adamawa State Agency for the Control of AIDS.
Wakil, a Superintendent of Police (SP), stated that owing to the command’s intensive fight against the menace, the number of gender-based violence was decreasing in the state.
According to him, so far, only 53 cases were recorded in the state this year.
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The police spokesman further said that as part of its effort to tackle the menace, the command opened gender violence desks in every division, with a view to tackling the problem.
A Deputy Commissioner of Police in the command, Mrs. Rose Chollom confirmed that efforts were being made by the police in the State, saying that the efforts were yielding results as the police had reduced gender-based violence drastically in the State.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Managing Director, Society for Family Health, Dr. Jennifer Anyanti, has stated that the training, which was supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), was meant to educate senior law enforcement officers on human rights issues and gender-based violence so that they could professionally handle the violations.
According to Anyanti, the training was imperative as law enforcement agents were stakeholders in human rights protection, noting that, “Hence the need to train them so that they will know how best to defend human rights and handle human rights violation cases professionally.”
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