Gov. El-Rufai’s wife presents cash gifts to rape victims

The wife of Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, Hadiza El-Rufai, has donated cash relief to some survivors of Gender-Based Violence in the state.

The governor’s wife, who’s also the Chairperson of the Northern Governors’ Wives Forum, said the battle against GBV must be fought and won.

Speaking while receiving the victims at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim Government House on Tuesday, Mrs El-Rufai, noted that one of the best ways to tackle the scourge of GBV was education and financial empowerment of the women folk.

According to her,  when women are educated and empowered, they will be financially independent of their abusers, hence the resolve of the Governors Wives Forum to give some of the survivors’ cash relief.

She, therefore, presented a gift of N100,000 each to the survivors, among them, was young Safiya suffering from Down syndrome, who was raped severally and impregnated by a relative of her stepfather.

She said, “the problem of Gender Based Violence is enormous, therefore the battle against it must not be taken lightly, it is a battle that must be fought and won. So, we must stand firm against it.

“Gender-Based Violence is a global problem, it is worse here because of some cultural beliefs, but we will continue to do our best. We will continue to fight for the rights of women.

“Today, we have a certain fund that we want to give to survivors of Gender-Based Violence. We know the money cannot take away your pains or make you forget the pains, but we believe it will cushion the effects of your suffering and make you financially independent of your abusers.

“We are doing this because we know when women have some kind of financial independence, it will help because some women even go back to their abusers because there is nothing they can do.

“This is why we need to educate our women and give those that cannot be educated, some means of earning their livelihood.”