Speaker Obasa Advises Reconciliation Of Domestic & Sexual Violence Agency Bill 2020 With Child Rights Law
The Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa has advised the House Committee on Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation to take a careful look at Child Rights Law 2015 and Domestic Violence Law 2015 and reconcile them with the new Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency Bill 2020 in order to avoid repetition and contradictions.
Obasa made this statement on Monday, November 30, 2020, during plenary session after the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency Bill 2020, “A bill for a law to provide for the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency, the Establishment of the Sex Offenders Register and for other Connected Purposes”, passed the Second Reading and was committed to the House Standing Committee on Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.
” We need to put these laws side by side with this new bill so that we would not be repeating what we already have in place.
” The committee has a lot to do by going through the existing laws in comparison to the new one which we have before us”.
” We should also look at the issue of establishing new agency when we have many already. When we have too many agencies that is another addition to government expenditure”.
The Speaker also implored the committee to sample the opinions of various bodies particularly women NGOs in the order to know what they want.
He said a law should not be about punitive measures alone. That it should also be about bringing a lasting solutions to a particular problem.
He was particularly concerned about how to take care of children who he said are victims of separation from domestic violence prone families.
