The General Manager, Osun State Agency for Community and Social Development Project (CSDP), Mrs. Funmi Aderonke Abokede, has suggested that Gender-Based Violence (GBV) should be declared as a pandemic.

Abokede said this at a training organised by CSDP for Community Development Desk Officers from Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and local government areas across the state on post COVID-19 Community Development Intervention.

The General Manager said the training became necessary because of the consequences of the Coronavirus global pandemic on the people.

Abokede lamented that rape and other forms of Gender Based Violence (GBV) were rampant during the lockdown imposed by government as part of measures to curb spread of COVID-19.

Abokede said GBV should be declared as another pandemic and urged leaders and all and sundry to stand against it.

She frowned that the lockdown trapped many women at home with their abusers, leading to an increase in the rate of GBV including defilement and rape.

She urged the media to raise awareness of GBV and also canvassed for aggressive campaign and education on GBV so as to discourage it.

Abokede expressed the need to put practicable mechanisms in place to protect the girls and women from perpetrators of GBV.

She also urged family and friends as well as neighbors of victims of GBV to always report and raise alarm so as to break the culture of silence.

Also, the Operations Manager of CSDP in the state, Mr. Felix Akinwande, said the training also focused on psychosocial support as a coping mechanism for the fallouts arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said the training also aimed at guiding the participants to avoid depression and ensure retraining of people in their various communities on post-COVID-19 life.

A financial expert, Mr. Akinsola Ogunsakin, highlighted the ways to be prudent in resource allocation and management so as to ensure value for money at all times.

The participants said the training came at the right time and promised to cascade down the learning in their respective localities.

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