Rivers born Nollywood actress, Mrs Hilda Dokubo, has inaugurated a youth club, Orange Brigade,  aimed at providing a platform for young persons to speak against abuses such as sexual abuse, violence and harassments, through drama, films and creative writings for  secondary school students in Rivers state.
Dokubo, who is the Founder and Executive Director, of a Non-Governmental Organization(NGO), Centre for Creative Arts Education, said Orange Brigade would help amplify voices against vices that directly affect them, using creative tools to pass the message.
According to her, “the brigade is all about young people using drama and other art forms  for advocacy, it is about adolescence and teens speaking up against all forms of abuses, sexual harassments, violence. In fact, we have chosen to protect young people from all the abuses   against their person”.
She noted that,  ”over time the media and society have been inundated with news, records of abuses on young people, mostly during the covid-19 pandemic lockdown and  this is my own  way of getting the young people to speak up against violences and abuses and to not just speak up, but also do something  and to use that as a way of elevating their own voices over these concerns.
“It is appropriate to start from schools, and that the need for proper management of the activities of the club necessitated the take-off from schools.
“We want their activities to be managed properly, we do not want anything to go wrong, so we will be needing the inputs of their teachers, mostly in the areas of organization, direction and advise to the young participants, members,” the actress explained.
On her part, Mrs. Debbie Effiong, Executive Director, ALIVE, blamed the lack of political will to enforce laws and curb criminality. 
“The fact is that ours is a society that is ignorant, still trying to develop and a lot of things are still not structured. Our laws are weak, enforcement is lacking and bureaucracies that surround getting justice are some of the reasons some of these things keep happening with impunity”, Effiong observed.
She advised families and victims of abuse to speak up and involve relevant authorities for punitive measures against the attackers,  saying, “there should be a firm refusal for family settlement, you don’t beg when you have committed a crime “
The publisher, National Point Newspaper, Chief Constance Meju, spoke on unsafe behaviours and ways of identifying them. 
In the highlights were the presentation of drama and decoration of the students in orange barrets.

By: Tonye Nria-Dappa