An Edo State based non-government organisation, Lift Above Poverty Organisation (LAPO) has announced plans to enhance the capacity of 50,977 women in 2014 to resist and confront some obnoxious socio-cultural and traditional practices in society.

This was made known by the Executive Director of the organisation , Mrs. Sabina Idowu-Osehobo,  disclosed the organisation’s commitment to defending the rights of abused and violated women in society through its legal aid unit, adding that in 2014 the organisation counselled 5,243 women and defended the rights of those who were abused and violated.

Idowu-Osehobo, who disclosed this during a review session with senior managers of the organisation, also expressed the organisation’s commitment to building the capacity of women to dismantle structures and processes that encourage discrimination, injustice and violence against women and the girl-child.

She contended that poverty was not just the lack of funds but more fundamentally an issue of social exclusion and lack of access to life transforming opportunities, stressing that social empowerment has always been an integral part of LAPO’s poverty-reduction strategy from the very beginning.

Idowu-Osehobo also revealed that LAPO has been in the forefront of bringing gender issues to attention, promoting legal and policy reforms and supporting projects that empower women economically for more than two decades.

Also speaking at the forum, Barr. Vera Asenoguan criticised the humiliating and barbaric treatment women are usually subjected to, especially on the demise of their husbands and expressed worry that most of the rights as enshrined in the constitution such as the rights to the dignity of the human person, freedom from discrimination, right to life, right to fair hearing and freedom to own and inherit property are still being violated with impunity in Nigeria.