DOMESTICATION OF THE VIOLENCE AGAINST PERSONS (PROHIBITION) ACT 2015 IN YOBE STATE THE CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS

The Violence against Persons (Prohibition) Act 2015 (VAPPA) is a product of International and Regional legal frameworks on the rights of persons as treaties. It was enacted into law as required by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to have force of law in the country subject to ratification by states of the Federation and adoption by individual States for the promotion and protection of the rights of Persons. Yobe State among few other states has adopted or domesticated the VAPPA. It took Yobe State 7 years to domesticate the VAPPA There are some VAPP’s related laws operational in Yobe State which are either holistic or partial such as the Constitution, Child Protection Law, the Administration of Criminal Justice Law, the Penal Code, Sharia Penal Code, Labour Act and Matrimonial Cause Act. The operational Laws are characterized with some deficiencies hence, the need for VAPP Law in Yobe State. The research is associated with problems such as Constitutional, Religious, Socio-Cultural, Economic, Administrative, awareness and non-implementation and enforcement. The domestication of VAPPA is faced with some challenges flowing from the above stated problems such as non-compliance with the requirement of the constitution and inconsistencies of some provisions of the VAPPA with the Constitution, controversial provisions of the VAPPA in relation to religions, poor economic standard of the people of Yobe, poor administrative synergy between concerned stakeholders, lack of awareness and non-implementation and enforcement of VAPPA in other states of the federation. There are prospects for the domestication of VAPPA in Yobe State amidst the challenges if the government and stakeholders can amend or modify some provisions of the VAPPA, warrant friendly economic standard, educate or give orientation on some socio-cultural practices, implement existing laws appropriately. The research made some findings among others viz: violation of Constitutional provisions in the enactment of VAPPA, other laws in Yobe contemplate people’s interests, only Muslims contest against the VAPPA, economic situation in Yobe State is not favourable and failure of government to observe its responsibilities. Based on the said findings, the following are recommended: consideration of supremacy of the Constitution, interest of the people, there should be collective protest against controversial provisions of the law and finally the government should live up to its responsibilities. The research embarked on doctrinal research methodology to source materials and facts to make the research a success.