By Ibrahim Abdul’Aziz, Regional Correspondent
Nigeria’s Women Affairs Minister, Pauline Tallen, has advocated death sentence for rape and related offenses.
Tallen made her stand public during the Flag-off of the National Cooking Gas and Tree Planting project held in Girei town, headquarter of Girei Local Government Area of Adamawa.
The minister who also advocated stiff penalty for child-labor offenses and other dehumanising treatments against children stressed that it was time for religious and other opinion leaders to join the vanguard to demand harsh penalties against all forms of gender-based violence.
She said, “Rapists deserve the death penalty.
“It is disheartening that rape cases have become rampant in our communities, and nowadays even boys suffer some kind of gender-based violence.”
“For the first time in the history of Nigeria, we have a President who has brought the issues of gender-based violence to the national focus.
“Nigerian women and children are very grateful to Mr President for spotlighting their issues as crucial to national development.
“I, therefore, advocate for both death sentence for rapists and stiff penalty for child labour offences and other dehumanizing treatment against children,” Tallen said.
Supported by the representative of the state governor, who is also Secretary to the State Government, Bashiru Ahmad, the minister also inaugurated free distribution of cooking gas and tree planting to curb desertification.
She said government introduced the national cooking gas project as part of measures aimed at conserving the environment.
She said that the Cooking Gas and Tree Planting project was inspired by President Muhammadu Buhari in providing dividends of democracy to Nigerian indigent rural women and girls.
Tallen said that according to the World Health Organization (WHO), emission from cook stoves killed about 4.3 million people annually through air pollution.
The minister said the event was to create awareness and sensitize the public, particularly women and other stakeholders, on the effects of using firewood for cooking.
“In line with this, the President directed that each of Nigeria’s 774 LGAs be supplied 1,000 cooking gas cylinders each.
In Adamawa State, 21,000 5kg gas cylinders were distributed.
“Adamawa State has been supplied with 21,000 Gas Cylinders at 1000 for each of the 21 Local Government Areas (LGAs).
“The development is Presidential gesture to be distributed to women in the rural communities, wards and down to the remotest villages,” she said.
She said President Muhammadu Buhari during the 2019 session of the United Nations General Assembly pledged to plant 25 million trees within one year.
Tallen noted that the planting of economic trees in the state was to stimulate green environment, stem climate change and the effect of deforestation in the communities.
In his remarks, Gov. Ahmadu Fintiri, thanked President Buhari for kicking off the cooking gas and tree planting project in Adamawa.
Fintiri, represented by his Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Bashir Ahmed, said that Adamawa government would work closely with the federal government to achieve the goals of conserving and protection of the environment.
He appealed to all beneficiaries to jealously guard the gas cylinders and not to sell them off for any amount.
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