Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Pauline Tallen, has cited the need to initiate a conversation with the Minister of Interior, to make psychiatric tests compulsory for couples before they officially get married, citing recent cases of popular gospel artist, Osinachi Nwachukwu which happened in Abuja, Mercy Samuel, in Jos, Plateau state, and the trending viral Chrisland school girl video, who was alleged to have been raped by her classmates during the school’s excursion project to Dubai.
This was disclosed at a news conference on Friday, in Abuja, in the wake of recent cases of Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) in the country.
“Perpetrators need to be told that Nigeria is a society with zero tolerance to GBV. President Muhammadu Buhari is committed to seeing an end to GBV, the 36 State Governors are with us on this. The 9th National Assembly is equally committed to this cause.
“As a first step to ensuring that we bring an end to this issue, I will initiate a conversation with the Minister of Interior to ensure that psychiatric tests were made compulsory as part of marriage requirements in the country.
“The families make up the society and everyone comes from a family. Mothers are the bedrock of the family and custodians of family traditions.
“We must play our part in moulding our male children to become better adults, who can take on marital responsibilities without feeling insecure. We must put an end to the culture of reinforcing male dominance in the society.
She applauded the Inspector-General of Police, Alkali Baba for making sure his officers took charge of the Osinachi’s case, referring to her recent visit to him, she said it was a clear signal that it would no longer be business as usual.
“Our society must move with the realities of the times. We can no longer tolerate wickedness, greed, envy and malicious acts under the guise of Culture,’’ Pauline added.
The Minister also called on the State Governors to support the Ministry Of Women Affairs in their various states with funds for advocacy, to enable them create more awareness and campaign to reduce cases of SGBV, and appealed to the media to continue carry messages about SGBV to the wider society. (NAN)
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