NURTW Pledges To Address Rape, Harassment Of Women As CODE, Boys Quarter Africa Train Union

In a bid to help curb reported cases of rape and harassment of women in motor parks and public vehicles across the country, Connected Development and Boys Quarter Africa have organized a workshop for members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) to create awareness about the challenge.

The training became crucial following the recent brutal murder of a female passenger, Oluwabamise Ayanwola, allegedly by the driver of a Bus Rapid Transit vehicle and other accounts of similar incidents.

Bamise’s corpse was recovered at the Ebute Ero of Lagos State after she reportedly boarded the BRT bus driven by one Nice Andrew Omininikoron.

Connected Development and Boys Quarter Africa organized the sensitization programme through the Project SABI Initiative whose primary objective is to end Violence Against Women and Girls(VAWG) in Nigeria.

The NURTW members were informed of the need to protect women and girls in motor parks and society in general.

CODE’s Chief Executive, Hamzat Lawal, told attendees that the workshop was aimed at improving the consciousness of the NURTW members about Violence Against Women and Girls and when to spot one.

“Today, Connected Development, Boys Quarter Africa with support from Voices and Oxfam, decided to bring the NURTW together, as studies have showed that more women are raped and harrased in the motor parks, and the Union has a very important role to play to end violence against women and girls in Nigeria.

“I’m happy that many fathers who have female children are part of the event and I know they won’t stand to watch a woman get assaulted or a girl raped. We believe that if we get it right with the motor parks, we can take the lessons to our markets to ensure that our women are safe,” Lawal said the event attended by officials of the National Orientation Agency and the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs.

Also speaking, CODE’s Project Associate, Hyeladzira Mshelia, said Project Sabi was established to educate men and boys on the importance of fostering a safe and equal space for girls.

Mshelia noted that the 18 months project is being carried out in Abuja, Lagos and Enugu and aims to mobilize and engage 1000 men and boys as advocates of ending gender-based violence.

“In this campaign, we are trying to stimulate a nationwide movement that is aimed at ending all forms of violence targeted towards women and girls”, she stated. “We want the campaign to be championed by men and boys, which is why most of the participants are men and boys, as they are key and influential stakeholders for the campaign.

“This is a town hall, and we have brought together commercial road users because we have identified that there are a lot of gender-based violence cases that you find in motor parks. We are trying to let the men know that they have power to change the narrative,” she said.

Mshelia added that gender-based violence, including physical violence, emotional violence, sexual violence, sexual exploitation, forced prostitution, economic violence, social exclusion and others, should be handled with levity in any society.

In his remark, Anthony Chukwudi Asogwa, Deputy National Secretary of the NURTW, promised that the union will come up with initiatives to ensure motor parks and public vehicles are safe for women and girls.

Asogwa assured that the NURTW will create a desk for handling all cases of violence or harassment against female passengers.

“Motor parks are well organized, we have chains of command and because of this collaboration, henceforth, any girl that is molested in a motor park, we will provide, as requested, a desk officer where they can lay complaints.

“I assure you, such things don’t happen, but if it happens, we have the capacity to take care of that and discipline whoever is involved. The Union will support you 100 percent to ensure that gender-based violence is reduced to the barest minimum or stopped entirely, particularly in our area of operation,” he stated.