Edo State NOA Organises Seminar on FOI, Others Social Vices

By The9jaTrend

The National Orientation. Agency (NOA), Edo State Directorate has organised  one-day roundtable discussion on "Understanding the Freedom of Information Act and Curbing the Increasing Wave of Rape and Gender Violence, Advocacy Sensitization on Government Policy of Deregulation in the Downstream Sector, National Action Against Drug Abuse, Tracking and other social vices.

The seminar which was held at the Benin office of NOA was in line with its sensitisation objective to communicate Government policies to the good people of Edo state.

In her welcome address, the  Edo State Director of the  Agency, Mrs. Grace Ewere Eseka, said the event was organised to discuss and engaged the people on issues bordering on healthy living amongst the people and the enhancement of economic growth in the country.

She said: "This is yet another event, the first of its kind.  In our sensitisation campaign on communicating the effects of social vices in the society, the National Orientations Agency (NOA) in its quest to continuously inform the general public and other relevant stakeholders organised this event to discuss and meaningfully engaged our people on issues that are germane to healthy living amongst the people and enhancement of Economic Growth in Nigeria.

Mrs. Eseka described the workshop as apt especially as she opined that social vices are prevalent in the national discourse, hence, "the need to talk about them, publicize them and proffer solutions to these vices cannot be overemphasized.

"We hear of these vices and their consequences in our country in general and State in particular, bringing in its wake untold hardship to the people. This is avoidable, we must work to ensure that tragedies such as rape, gender violence, drug abuse, do not happen in our domains", she urged.

Speaking on the topic, "Curbing the Increase Wave of Rape and Gender Violence", the Edo State Coordinator of  Sexual and Gender Based Violence Response Team (SGBV-RT), Barr (Mrs.) Charity Chris-Ebosele, said the state government through the office of the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice has continued to canvass for the tackling of Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV).

She underscored the importance of creating mass awareness in all spheres of life in order to ensure that elements that encouraged SGBV are curtailed.

"It is with this mindset to the pace in combating SGVB that the Edo State Ministry of Justice, under the leadership of Honourable Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Prof. Yinka Omorogbe, being one of the front burners in canvasing for access to Justice and impacting the government and the people for the betterment of the state saw the need to strategize on various ways to aid the successful tackling of this menac called Sexual and Gender Based Violence.

Mrs. Ebosele revealed that SGBV-RT which was established in January, 2019 has a team consist of all relevant stakeholders from different Ministries, Agencies and CSOs, adding that, " the SGBV-RT is committed towards improving the  coordination and cooperation of social support, healthcare, legal and  enforcement  professionals in responding to SGBV in Edo State."

While noting that SGBV-RT has secured Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) in Benin City and Uromi in Esan North-East Local Government Area of the state, Barr (Mrs) Chris-Ebosele disclosed that SARC is aimed addressing some of the support gaps by providing essential services to victims of sexual assault.

Delivering his lecture on the topic "Understanding the freedom of information act", Dr. Gavin Daudu, said, " The fundamental basis for the enactment of FOI Act in 2011 was to make public records and information freely available to the people.

"Access to Information held by public authorities is a fundamental ingredient to freedom of expression as enshrined in Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution as amended is vital to the proper functioning of democracy.

" A culture of secrecy has become enshrined in Nigerian Government and members of the public, that the media are also denied access to official information which is the media entitlement democratically.

"The breakdown in the flow of information impairs the democratic process and slows economic and social development as citizens are unable to participate actively in the process of government, make informed choices about who should govern them and to properly scrutinize officials to ensure corruption is avoided or brought to minimal

"The media must be seen as an integral part of the freedom of information and also as a system of social control whereby the relationship between individuals, institutions and government are effectively mediated.

"It is  therefore not in the best interest of freedom of information if the government consistently harass the media in their sincere ques to bring the policies, programmes of government and happenings in the society to the knowledge of the general public", he said.

Other resource persons who spoke at the event include, Deputy Director, Social Duties and Local Operation of NOA, Barr. Osahon Woghiren, the Principal Staff Officer, Public Affairs of NDLEA Mr. Ofoyeju Mitchell, Edo State Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Comrade Roland Osakue, who also acted as moderator of the event and Dr. Olaye Liberty