The Lagos State administration revealed on Thursday that between August 2022 and July 2023, there were at least 2,588 reports of domestic violence in the state that involved sexual or emotional abuse of children.
This was disclosed at a press conference by the Permanent Secretary and Solicitor-General, Ms. Titilayo Shitta-Bey, as part of events kicking off the 2023 Domestic and Sexual Violence Awareness Month with the theme “Not in my Lagos.”
Mrs. Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi, the Executive Secretary of the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency, spoke on her behalf. She added that 40% of the children had been put through counselling to make sure they could deal with the events they had witnessed psychologically without having a long-lasting negative effect on them.
“The agency currently receives 250 customers on average each month. 91% of survivors in the adult population were female, 9% were male, whereas 45% of survivors in the young population were boys and 55% were girls.
Seven people with disabilities who were victims of gender-based violence received services from the agency during the evaluation period.
“An 18-month-old infant was the youngest kid to endure sexual abuse, while a 79-year-old lady was the oldest client to encounter domestic abuse.
