Yesterday being Thursday 25th of November 2020, Mekados Deck of the National Association of Seadogs (aka Pyrates Confraternity) Onitsha, joined the rest of the world in making a resounding statement with regard to violence against women and children and as part of activities to mark the day, they kick-started it by first visiting City Radio 87.9 FM, a station whose reach not only cuts across the world with regard to it’s online streaming service, but can be clearly received in Anambra, Kogi, Delta, Enugu and some parts of Edo state.
On hand to do justice to the subject matter were the deck Capoon Mr Benjamin Agbala & Mr. Okechukwu Obiozo who took time to educate and sensitize the populace on the socially debilitating effects of encouraging the menace of violence against women and children.
It would be recalled that the association had earlier robustly announced that the Chairperson of Keyrights Initiatives-an NGO that cares of women and children, Mrs Anne XMai Uyanneh, would be part of the program but she unfortunately could not make it on time which left the two gentlemen to do justice to the subject.
Citizens in the aforementioned areas were afforded the opportunity to have a good grasp of the dangers in encouraging violence against women and children and hotlines for discretely reporting such acts were announced as the discussants not only bemoaned the increase in such terrible acts, especially during the COVID-19 lockdown which witnessed a shadow pandemic of sorts that saw women and children increasingly abused with little or no help in sight.
A call was made to Government to do more in mitigating against such acts by not only ensuring that the laws that protect women and children are looked into with a view to either bringing them up to speed with current realities but most importantly, ensuring implementation.
They stated that for a demographic that represents almost half of the populace, it was only wise and proper that issues affecting them are immediately addressed to ensure a decline in the scope of silent and largely underreported dehumanization currently being experienced.
They also alerted the public to the essence of the National Association of Seadogs which hectors on Humanistic Ideals and the push to not only point out ills militating against the attainment of a just society but to take proactive steps to destroy such ills and they made bold to state that the fight to eradicate violence against women aligns perfectly with everything the Confraternity stands and they pointed out the fact that their various chapters spread across the world were equally engaged in one form of advocacy or the other with a view to ensuring that the generality of citizens spread across the globe understood the urgency and seriousness with which the association views the issue.
A plea was sent out to potential abusers to immediately wean themselves of such terrible tendencies whilst pointing out the fact that they actually are toying with jail sentences should they continue with their terrible ways.
Victims were also encouraged to seek help by reaching out to the helplines announced intermittently and they were robustly assured of the deck’s willingness to assist by ensuring their cases are brought to the doorsteps of those trained to offer such assistance.
By and large it was a very educative, informative, assuring and eye opening program that went to great lengths to impress on the mind of the listener the cardinal principles propelling the National Association of Seadogs and how they seamlessly align with the subject matter.
The deck also organized an in-depth talk at Akunne Oniah Secondary School Onitsha where Mrs Anne Xmai Uyanneh, the Chairperson of Keyrights Initiatives-an NGO that cares for women and children, took time to educate, sensitize and proffer avenues for redress to invited guests amongst whom were mostly women and children.
Ezennia Nonso Chukwudebe
Publicity Secretary
Mekados Deck of the National Association of Seadogs,
Onitsha.
https://www.nas-int.org/
