If an opinion poll is conducted today in Lagos State megacity with a population of over 26 million people on Domestic violence, interventions, strengthening response to gender based violence and sustaining the war against the menace many residents in the state will confidently say the Lagos State Sexual and Domestic Violence Agency (DSVA) has done well.
The Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency as well as the Sex Offenders Register assented to by Mr. Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu on the 20th of September 2021 by a Bill of Law with Mrs. Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi (The Merchant of Hope) as the pioneer Executive Secretary has not only succeeded in addressing the root causes of gender-based violence, the impunity that often goes with the menace, the agency has also successfully implemented policies and provided support for victims and survivors of the violence.
To ensure its success, the agency comprises professional service providers and officials that respond as a group and in a timely fashion to the various needs of domestic and sexual violence survivors by providing legal, medical, emergency assistance, Counselling and psychological and psycho-social support.
In the last two years, DSVA, headed by a dynamic amazon, Vivour-Adeniyi, has been combing the entire Lagos to checkmate sexual and domestic violence and bring perpetrators to book.
Available statistics showed that from September 2021 to July 2023, the agency received a total of 10,484 cases of SGBV via the Virtual Referral and Response Service (VRRS) and Physical report. Out of these cases, domestic violence accounts for 4,360 cases.
As a mark of improvement in its operations, DSVA received more reported cases of SGBV between August 1, 2022 and July 2023, which were higher than between September 2021 and July 2022. While 5,624 cases were reported in the last one year, 4860 were reported in the previous year.
In the last one year, the DSVA, handled 5,624 cases of which 2,331 were domestic violence cases, 90 rape cases, 72 sexual assault cases and two sexual assault by penetration cases. Others are: one attempt to commit rape, 123 threat to life, 609 separation, failure to take responsibility of children, neglect, child abduction, child labour and custody cases; 384 non-GBV, (tenancy disputes, assault simplicity etc), 143 child abuse/physical assault, 235 defilement cases, three defilement/molestation by minor to minor and 33 sexual harassment/molestation cases.
According to Vivour-Adeniyi, a total of 1,598 children have experienced emotional abuse (i.e these children have been exposed to Domestic Violence within the home). 40% of these children have been taken through counselling programmes to ensure they were able to psychologically deal with the events they had witnessed without it having a permanent and negative impact on them.
In fighting domestic and sexual violence, Vivour-Adeniyi said the Office of the Public Defender as well as the Lagos Public Interest Law Partnership (LPILP) have provided free legal representation to survivors of Domestic Violence; Judicial Separation, Divorce, Maintenance, Custody of children and Settlement.
While women are the main object of sexual and domestic violence, findings by DSVA reveals that 340 male reported incidences of domestic violence perpetrated against them by their wives between September 2022 and July 2023.This is more than twice the number reported between September 2021 and July 2022, which stood at 140 cases.
“This is an indication that the culture of silence amongst the male gender concerning issues of Sexual and Gender Based Violence is also gradually being broken,” Vivour-Adeniyi said.
As daunting as the challenge Covid-19 pandemic was, the agency recognized the need to ensure provision of uninterrupted services to survivors of SGBV.
According to the agency, with the support of the Joint EU-UN Funded Spotlight initiative and technical support from UNFPA, it developed the Gender Based Violence Virtual and Referral Service, the first of its kind in Nigeria.
Adeniyi- Vivour said, “By calling the toll free line; (0 8 000-333-333) victims and Survivors are able to access emergency, psycho-social support, legal assistance and referral services before physical contact, any day of the week, 24/7. This service in the past 2 years, has provided support, and succour to over 3,689 survivors in and outside Lagos, whilst 165 survivors were rescued from precarious situations.
“Through this innovation, SGBV response has been integrated into the emergency response mechanism of the State as the service is also located and operated inside the Command Control Centre of LASEMA.”
In the education sector, DSVA has successfully mainstreamed prevention and response into the sector through behavioural mindset programmes, training for stakeholders in the sector which have been made possible with the support of the Lagos State Ministry of Education. Some of which include the Kings and Queens Club in the last two years.
It is also on record that the Kings Club is an initiative borne out of the compelling need to engage boys from an early age on issues such as sexual and reproductive rights, health, SGBV, promoting positive masculinity, Gender equality and equity, SDG 5, relationship with the other sex, anger management and transitioning from boyhood to manhood.
The curriculum which was developed through this initiative has recorded numerous successes including change in behaviour in the boys. From 40 Kings Club members inducted in 2023, the initiative has been successful in changing and re-orienting mindsets.
According to Vivour-Adeniyi, the girls have not been left out as the Queens Club initiative had been instrumental in engaging female secondary school students on germane issues such as sexual and reproductive rights and health, SGBV, femininity, gender equality and equity, SDG 5, relationship with the other sex, grit, tenacity and resilience.
She added that from 330 girls initially inducted by the First Lady of Lagos State, Dr. Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, there are now over 2,230 Queens. This is a laudable testament of the impact and sustainability of this initiative.
The Agency also developed and launched “My Passport of Rights” a booklet developed in the form of a passport which summarises, in a succinct manner, the rights of children, the different forms of abuse as well as steps to take to report such abuse.
Vivour-Adeniyi revealed that an overview showed that over 18,000 children had received their Passport of Rights while over 30,000 students have been appropriately engaged on child abuse, their rights.
“It is believed that children spend a good number of their days in school. Consequently, teachers and educators play a huge role in the moulding of these Children. This has informed the various training and capacity building of critical Education stakeholders, including Guidance Counsellors, School Administrators, Heads of schools and Principals on their role in preventing and responding to Child protection concerns,” she said.
The executive secretary disclosed that over 2,600 stakeholders, drawn from the six education districts, comprising both public and private schools have been trained on their role in ensuring full implementation of the Executive Order on Safeguarding and Child Protection Programme.
One area the agency has earned the praise of Lagosians is in the area of access to justice, as the DSVA, in the last two years, approached access to justice for survivors from a Survivor-centric position, where the survivor is at the centre of the Justice process.
This has informed the introduction of various initiatives which include early engagement with survivors, explaining to them their rights and what to expect upon engaging the various responder agencies, survivor advocates accompanying them to the various institutions to facilitate reporting, working closely with the Police as well as the Ministry of Justice, particularly the Directorate of Public Prosecutions and the Lagos State Judiciary to ensure speedy adjudication of cases.
“Without being oblivious to the critical role the Police plays in ensuring Survivors are able to access justice, the Agency has strengthened its symbiotic relationship with the police and introduced novel innovations, including providing financial support to aid and facilitating investigation and charging of cases to court. This has greatly reduced the financial burden previously placed on survivors on their journey to accessing justice, thereby encouraging them to stay the course until justice is served,” Vivour-Adeniyi said.
Thus, the Agency has strengthened its collaboration and partnership with the criminal justice stakeholders through coordination, meetings, training and case management conferences.
According to Vivour-Adeniyi, “by virtue of the need to bring justice to the doorstep of victims and survivors, the agency in partnership with the Local Government, has identified and trained focal persons across the 20 Local Government Areas. These officers have been trained to make immediate referrals and escalations as at when due. Similarly, the agency has secured office space in 2 Local government areas including Kosofe and Lagos Mainland.”
Vivour –Adeniyi is not alone in the war domestic and sexual violence, she has the support of the Lagos State First Lady, Dr. Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu who has bagged a special recognition award in appreciation of her advocacy and tremendous support to enhance the fight against sexual and gender-based violence in the state.
Aware that the menace is hindering productivity given the age bracket of the people affected, she said, “In the past two years, we have made significant gains in our war against domestic and sexual violence. Institutions have been strengthened to respond appropriately, policies have been formulated and introduced in ensuring we provide holistic care and support to survivors, and we are also gradually ending the culture of impunity as evidenced in the convictions secured by the Ministry of Justice. In simple terms, we are indeed walking the talk.”
She called on religious and community leaders in the state to join the ongoing massive campaign to end violence against women and girls, especially rape and all forms of sexual and gender-based crimes.
Mrs. Sanwo-Olu also urged parents and guardians to be watchful and do everything necessary to protect their children and wards from sexual predators.
She said as the first point of call in the communities, religious and community leaders have key roles to play in stepping up the fight against rape, defilement, and associated crimes.
“There is a zero-tolerance to rape in Lagos State. We are serious about stamping out domestic violence, gender-based violence, and associated crimes in Lagos. We don’t pray for rape and similar crimes but they do happen and most times religious leaders and community leaders are the first point of contact.
“When you have such cases at hand, whoever has been attacked should not bathe, douche and they should not change their clothes. If the rapist used a condom, and you have it, do not destroy it but go straight to the hospital to have a test in order to preserve the evidence.
“If a child is raped and the mother quickly bathes for her, you have lost the evidence and you can’t win the case because you don’t have evidence. So, when you are talking to people in our communities, please mention these things,” the First Lady said.
According to her, a lot had been done in Lagos State to fight the menace, including the new law that now supports the Sex Offenders Register.
“This is the era of speaking up loud and clear. Sexual harassment in the workplace, in the school, in the community must not be encouraged. These are some of the things we want our religious leaders to talk about.
“Honestly, it’s better for that child to fail than to surrender her body. There is no shame in failing. When you fail, it is an opportunity to do it again. We need to preach that when we are talking in our communities,” she said.
