The Attorney General of Lagos, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Moyosore Onigbanjo has said that the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency (DSVA), received over 4,800 cases from Sept 2021 to July 2022.
Of these number, a total of 1578 children were said to have experienced emotional abuse and exposure to Domestic Violence within the home.
At a media parley to kickstart activities to commemorate the Domestic & Sexual Violence Awareness Month, this September, the AG disclosed that the youngest child that experienced sexual violence in the year under review was 8 months, whilst the oldest client that experienced domestic violence was a 75-year-old woman and an 89-year-old man.
The AG also disclosed that the Domestic & Sexual Agency now receives a minimum of 200 clients on a monthly basis while it has also secured over 150 convictions.
โOut of the 20 Local Government Areas in Lagos State, the top 5 highest LGA of highest reporting for adults cases, include Alimosho, Ikorodu, Kosofe, Eti-Osa and Oshodi Isolo, whilst for cases involving children, the agency recorded high reporting from Alimosho, Kosofe, Oshodi-Isolo, Ikorodu, and Ifako-Ijaiye Local Government Areas.
โFurther analysis of cases under the year in review revealed that at least 60% of survivors that reported to the Agency, experienced domestic violence in the first five years of their marriage.
โHowever, 50% of the reports were made after 10 years of the subsistence of the marriage. Various factors which contributed to delay in reporting include- financial dependence on the abuser, wanting to remain in the abusive relationship because of their children as well as other socio-cultural factorsโ.
According to Onigbanjo, โthrough the established Gender Based Violence Virtual and Referral Service, which is supported by the EU funded Spotlight initiative and United Nations Population Fund the virtual system has provided legal, psychosocial, referral as well as emergency services to 1366 adults and 219 children; a total of 1585 casesโ
โAn integral mandate of the agency is to conduct preliminary investigations, rescue and provide support to survivors. The Agency has conducted a total of 140 rescue missions of survivors of Domestic and Sexual Violence in Lagos State.
โThe Agency has sadly received reports of 5 victims of Domestic Violence who lost their lives, all of which were escalated to the Police as well as the Chief Coroner of Lagos State with a view to ascertaining the cause of death, the outcome of which would greatly strengthen prosecution of the cases. Prosecution is ongoing in all of the casesโ.
โIn view of DSVAโs role in ensuring full implementation of the Executive Order on Safeguarding and Child Protection, dated the 16th of December, 2016, all reports of Child Protection concerns in schools were duly responded to.
โFrom September 2021 to July 2022, the attention of the Taskforce saddled with the responsibility for implementing the Executive Order on Safeguarding and Child Protection, which comprises representatives from the Office of Education Quality Assurance, Department of School Social Work of the Ministry of Youth and Social Development as well as DSVA has been drawn to incidents of Child Abuse in 42 schools.
โAll erring schools were jointly investigated. All the sexual violence related cases are being prosecuted by the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, five (5) cases are in court, while (1) school was shut down as a result of infractions. Four (4) of these cases were defilement whilst one (1) was physical assaultโ.
The attorney general also said that โan analysis of the data revealed that 3rd party interference and lack of communication between couples were some of the key contributory factors, attributable for intimate Partner Violence. Similarly, 60% of survivors disclosed they saw the signs of their abusive partner during courtship, but yet still proceeded with the wedding ceremony.
โThese findings have now informed the Agencyโs collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs with a view to introducing compulsory pre-marital effectiveness preparatory counselling for intending couples in other to tackle the issues of domestic violence before the marriage.
โA curriculum has also been developed to marriage registrars and other professionals to provide the counselling for intending couples so as to make an informed decision before saying โI Doโ.
The DSVA as it has always done since itโs inception will commemorate the Domestic and Sexual Violence Awareness Month, which has traditionally been in the month of September.
The theme of this yearโs activities is โITโS ON USโ. This is based on the compelling need to ensure that residents of Lagos realize that ending the menace of Sexual Gender-Based Violence is indeed a collective effort which requires the support and collaboration of all members of society
Apart from the media parley, various activities have been lined up to commemorate the month.
They include, โturn Alausa purple/advocacy walk against Domestic and Sexual Violence which will happen on the 1st of September within the secretariat. Public servants are encouraged to wear a touch of purple, in solidarity with the walk.
There will also be a market fiesta which seeks to contribute towards breaking gender stereotypes which directly and indirectly encourages the perpetration of Sexual and Gender Based Violence. This initiative would educate individuals on gender roles which are social constructs.
Survivors of sexual and gender based violence will also get an opportunity to share their stories during the month at a symposium titled, โtales of survivors.โ This would be an intimate gathering which would include other relevant stakeholders. The aim is to ensure that other critical stakeholders would be in a better position of learning firsthand, the daily life struggles of survivors and the challenges they experience whilst on their road to healing.
Children would not be left out of the activities as the Safeguarding and Child Protection Day would witness the gathering of over 400 students, debate on the topic- Social Media Promotes Sexual and Gender Based Violence.
Participants would also receive books on their rights, body safety and steps to take to report child protection concerns.
The activities will be rounded off with a DSVA Awards/Commendation Night where Gov. Babajide SanwoOlu will hand out awards to deserving officers, institutions and individuals who have distinguished themselves in the fight against Sexual and Gender-Based Violence.
The following categories of persons would be recognized and appreciated: โ
1) Best Family Support Unit (FSU), Police Division
2) Best Family Social Services (FSS) Unit
3) Most Responsive Health Facility
4) Best Non-Governmental Organization for Domestic Violence
5) Best Non-Governmental Organization for Sexual Violence
6) A Mandated Reporter
Also speaking, the Executive Secretary of DSVA, Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi, encouraged the media to continue to partner with the Agency to achieve considerable progress to rid society of the menace.
She also appealed to the public to call the toll-free number: 08000333333, whenever there is a case of domestic and sexual violence or abuse in any form in their neighbourhood.
