The Lagos State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Mrs Cecilia Dada has appealed to the officers of the Nigeria Police Force to complement the efforts of the state government towards ending violence against women and girls, saying that the ways and manners which the police handle cases of abuse of women and girls often discourage the survivors from speaking out.
At a media session on Thursday organised by the Ministry, in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), at Alausa-Ikeja, in commemoration of the 16 days of activism against violence against women and girls, the commissioners said that the unwillingness to speak out against all forms of abuses by victims might not be unconnected with the way some police officials play down reported cases of gender and sexual-based violence.
Dada said: “I implore Nigeria Police Force to help encourage our women and girls to make reports at police stations on all forms of violence suffered. The police stations should be places of respite and succour, for any victim of violence. Our law enforcement officers should not trivialise these cases or throw them away out of disbelief”.
Speaking on the theme, ‘UNITE! Activism To End Violence Against Women and Girls’, the Commissioner emphasised the need for everyone to play their roles in ending violence against women and girls, show support and solidarity to women’s rights activists and resist the rollback on women’s rights.
She recalled that state government and Nigeria have been part of the activism since its inception, but their involvement became noticeable in 2018 with the #HearMeToo campaign.
“Lagos State Government, in the year 2019, launched ‘He-for-She’ Ambassadors where the state governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu was decorated as a ‘He-for-She’ champion.
“Recently, the Ministry, in a bid to stop incessant abuses in tertiary institutions, collaborated with UNFPA to work on domestication of Sexual Harassment Policy in all Lagos State tertiary institutions, which will be launched next year 2023”, she said.
Dada disclosed that her Ministry had 4,351 reported cases of violence between January and November, this year, explaining that 237 females approached the Ministry to report one form of violence or the other in November as against 38 cases reported by men.
These statistics, according to the Commissioner, do not include the figures from the Police and other critical government agencies handling violence and domestic violence-related issues. These include the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Youth and Social Development and Ministry of Justice.
While underscoring the determination of the state government to end all forms of abuses against women and girls, Dada disclosed that over 65,000 households had so far benefitted from the different skills acquisition and empowerment initiatives by the Ministry since inception of the present administration.
On her part, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mrs Oluyemi Kalesanwo said that the ’16 Days of Activism against Sexual and Gender-Based Violence’ is an annual international campaign which kicks off on 25th November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and runs until 10th December, which is the global celebration of Human Rights Day.
She expressed gratitude to members of the media for being a partner in progress with the Ministry in ending violence against women and girls, just as she sought for their continuous support to achieve a zero violence against women and girls in the state.
