In a recent press release on 10th June, 2022, the Kano State Chief Judge, Justice Nura Sagir announced the official launch of the Sexual Offenders Database (SOD) in Kano state.
The database is aimed at keeping records of all sexual offenders within the state in a register and will be available online for download by anyone and also in official gazette to be shared to rural areas. This hopefully, will deter perpetrators knowing they could be named and shamed anywhere in the society.
Results from our monitoring has shown an increasing rate of incidence of various forms of gender violence in the state. For years, Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has been advocating for measures to curb this problem. The launching of the Sexual Offenders Database (SOD) by the State Government is well development. CITAD applauds the government for strategic move in the fight against GBV in the state. We believe that the SOD will help in curtailing the menace and pave way for a society free from Gender-Based Violence.
However, there is the need to implement more measures such as:
1 – Such as the establishment a gender abuse monitoring unit in the Ministry of Education, its parastatals responsible for education at different levels and in the schools.
2- Establishment of special courts for trying perpetrators of gender-based violence.
3- We urge school authorities to constitute team of observers that will monitor and report GBV.
4- We also call on teachers/lecturers to uphold their duty towards the students in their care. As Teachers, they need to protect such students not violate them.
5- Online violence is on the increase, we recommend the public to be aware that violence online is not acceptable and should be reported.
