A non-governmental organisation, Women’s Rights and Health Project (WRAHP), has described the incidence of sexual and other forms of gender-based violence (SGBV) in Lagos State as worrisome.
It particularly made reference to rape of minors and wife battering as the most rampant among them with the later topping the list of domestic violence cases in the state.
Executive Director of WRAHP, Mrs Bose Ironsi, said this at a media roundtable as part of 16 days activities to call for action for the prevention and elimination of violence against women and young girls globally.
The annual event with this year’s theme as “Orange the world: Fund, Response, Prevent, Collect,” was held at Ireti Resource Centre, an arm of WRAHP, in Alimoso Local Government Area.
Speaking through the Manager of the centre, Olaoluwa Abagun, Mrs Ironsi listed rape, domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking of women and girls, wife battering, prostitution, female genital mutilation, harassment, and forced marriage as what constitute SGBV.
She, however, said even though sufferers of these violence are mostly women and girls, men and boys are also affected cutting across profession, religion, social and cultural lineages.
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She said WRAHP in the last three years, recorded 309 SGBV cases in Alimoso Local Government Area alone, comprising 124 wife battering, 36 defilement and rape, 54 cases of neglect and abandonment, 44 children physical abuse, and 51 others.
She said the cases are rising on daily basis not only in the local government area but across Lagos State and other parts of the country and therefore would require all and sundry to take concrete and wholistic actions to prevent and stamp out the menace from the society.
She said though there were many challenges including fear, ignorance, delay justice, lack of money and so forth that drive many sufferers of SGBV away from seeking justice, they are surmountable if right channel including aggressive advocacy is employed.
Mrs Ironsi, however, lamented that cases of SGBV are under-reported generally in the country while many are not even reported at all by the media, saying such situation is one of the strongest factors why more cases are being recorded daily around the country.
She said though there were many challenges including fear, ignorance, delay justice, lack of money and so forth that drives many away from seeking justice, they are surmountable if the right channel is approached.
She, therefore, tasked media practitioners to be more committed in this regards so as to effectively prevent and eliminate the scourge, adding that the effects of SGBV are not limited to sufferers or survivors but extend to other members of the society and the country at large.
She said the media should always go beyond announcing incidences of SGBV alone by staying on their stories till a conclusion is attained and justice served.
This, she concluded, would help greatly in tackling the scourge in the country.
Sexual, gender violence cases in Lagos worrisome, says group
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