This law, which was signed by the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Emmanuel Udom, empowers judges to hand down life sentences to anyone convicted of rape in the state.
After the law was passed, the state commissioner for Agriculture and women’s Affairs Glory Edet spoke about it. She said that the new law is aimed at discouraging the high rate of crime in the state.
“I think this is one of the best things that has happened to protect the female gender and as the commissioner overseeing women matters , I believe the women of Akwa Ibom, the children and even our men are happy because this law will really teach defaulters a lesson.
“This law allows for the implementation of a lot of things we were praying for and prescribes stiffer punishment for violators of the Child’s Right Act , perpetrators of violence against citizens of both gender. Before now violators of the female gender had some years to spend in prison but VAPPL recommends life imprisonment to really deal with the offenders and discourage the spate of violence in our society.”
Apart from this, the state’s Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice, Uwemedimo Nwoko also has a law that hands down 14 years imprisonment for perpetrators of gender-based violence.
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