The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, has granted approval to district heads to remove any traditional ruler found concealing cases of violence against women and children in his domain.
The District Head of Binji, Alhaji Kabiru Usman Binji, made the revelation during the four-day training on ethical, media advocacy and solution journalism for media practitioners in Sokoto organized by the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs with the support of the Spotlight Initiative.
Alhaji Binji said the cases of violence were high in his domain because of poverty, illiteracy and seasonal migration by husbands.
The district head also recalled how a 75-year-old man assaulted a nine-year-old girl and another 25-year-old man who sodomized a 10-year-old boy in the area.
The Ministry said no fewer than 500 cases of Gender-Based Violence GBV have been recorded across the 23 local government area of the state.
Acting Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Kulu Nuhu, who stated this at the opening ceremony of the four-day media dialogue, said Technical Working Groups were inaugurated to assist in reporting cases of different abuses in the state. She explained that the state government had also trained relevant stakeholders on how to take the campaign against the menace to the grassroots communities.
According to Nuhu, over 160 survivors are currently undergoing economic empowerment training in the State and in the end government will assist them with starter packs to enable them to become self-reliant.
Meanwhile, 80 women and adolescent girls from Binji and Tangaza LGAs, Sokoto state, have been trained for 3 days on livelihood skills.
The training organized by the Ministry was in a bid to end Violence against Women and Girls/Sexual and Gender-based Violence/Harmful Practices/Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights.