The Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen, said the federal government had declared a state of emergency on the rising cases of gender-based violence in the country.
She said this while speaking at the African Council of Women conference in Abuja.
The minister, who called for a zero-tolerance policy to gender-based violence, also revealed the formation of a committee of First Ladies in Nigeria that would work to stem the rate of gender-based violence in all the 36 states of the federation.
“I urge Nigerians to report cases of gender-based violence to the nearest police station to help in stemming this monster that is rocking our societies,” she stated.
She also urged state governments to use available resources to empower women as a strategic and intentional economic policy that would focus on redirecting and reengineering the economic status of women, with a view to tackling poverty, unemployment and insecurity in Nigeria.