Date: 2021-03-10

The Vice President, Industrial Global Union, Comrade Issa Aremu, has criticised the rampancy of gender-based violence in the country, calling on the federal government to treat the menace as a pandemic.

He specifically urged the federal government to declare a state of emergency on the issue as a pragmatic approach to tame it and added that women should be accorded a pride of place.

Aremu, a former governorship candidate of Labour Party in the 2019 general elections in Kwara State, stated this in Ilorin at the official launching of Hamdalat Aremu Foundation (HAF) to mark 2021 international women's day.

He noted that gender-based violence should be made public health hazard while perpetrators must be named and shamed with the opening of the register for them.

The front-line labour leader Comrade Issa Aremu also challenged African women to partner with progressive forces to transform the continent from mass poverty to prosperity for all.

The National Executive Committee member of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said the attack on women should not be seen as an assault on them alone but a collective problem that needed all hands to be on deck.

Comrade Aremu who is also the Vice President of Industrial Global Union observed that women stood at the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, as health care workers and caregivers, adding that the relative success in curtailing the spread of the virus was due to the sacrifices of women.

He also tasked the government to address rising insecurity in the country and treat it as an emergency situation like Coronavirus.

The labour leader also warned against criminal profiling, saying that the media should stop giving undue attention to criminals.

He said,"There are three major challenges facing Nigeria today. The first is security, the second is security and the third is security. Anytime you go to the media, you hear about banditry, kidnapping, and others. So, my advise is that we should handle all these challenges exactly the way we have handled COVID-19. We should treat them as pandemic including gender-based violence against women rapists.

"If you call it what it is, then you will be able to have the correct attitude to manage it. If we can tame COVID-19, I think we should be able to tame banditry and kidnapping. But with all the best effort, I also advise the media that when the going is tough for the nations, that is the time we need to be more objective in our reporting. Nigeria media is one of the best on the continent.

"But increasingly, I think we have been placing objectivity with subjectivity. And my fear is that we try to magnify more imperfections while we downplay when there are good performances. I want to counsel the media to balance their reports.

"We should not give oxygen to criminals. Don't profile criminals. Criminals are criminals. Nigeria's Constitution is clear. We are citizens of Nigeria. Constitution doesn't say I am a Muslim or Christian or Fulani or Hausa. It is not known to law. Media cannot legitimize that", Aremu said.

Also speaking, the Chairperson, Women Wing of the State Council of NLC, Mrs Asmau Apalando, advocated castration of any man caught for molestation and rape, insisting that rapist does not deserve protection.

She took a swipe at some men, who maltreat their wives and added that they needed to be brought to book to serve as a deterrent.

"Any married man seen maltreating his wife should be exposed for appropriate sanction to be meted on him", Mrs Apalando said.

Other speakers at the event including the Chairman, state council of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr Umar Bayo Abdulwahab; and Chairman, the state chapter of Labour Party, Comrade Abdulkareem Onagun, applauded the contribution of Issa Aremu to women emancipation.