The Lagos State Domestic and segxwal Violence Agency (DSVA) has moved to curb segxwal and domestic violence against men in the State.
The move led to the launch of “The Hidden Crime, Violence Against Men Project” to engage men to realize they can be victims or survivors of segxwal and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) and that there is no shame in their pain.
At the event launched recently, which had over 300 men in attendance, Executive Secretary, DSVA, Titilola Vivour- Adeniyi told the men at the event, that they played a crucial role in the fight against segxwal and Gender-Based Violence in the state.
She said a recently concluded community engagement in over 10 Local Government Areas revealed the need for enlightenment and a spotlight on men who were victims or survivors of segxwal and Gender-Based Violence.
Vivour-Adeniyi said research conducted in 2016, in partnership with the Nigerian Prisons Service, as they were referred to then, revealed that out of the 140 sex convicts, 80.5% of them revealed that they were segxwally abused at an early age, some as young as 6 years old and as such were exposed to unhealthy segxwal relationships.
She said majority of them did not receive psycho-social support and as such they began abusing others, thereby revealing the abused-abuser trend
Launching the project, the Executive Secretary, stated that the aim was to ensure that the agency leave no gender behind in its advocacy, preventive, and response mechanisms.
Vivour-Adeniyi said the project would be an opportunity to continue to break the culture of silence, which encouraged SGBV to thrive.
She explained that the project also informed men of the different forms of violence as well as free support services the state government had put in place to proactively address these issues.
According to her, the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo Olu in his inaugural speech on the 29th of May, 2023, informed Lagosians of the addition of PLUS into the THEMES Agenda, saying that the PLUS represented Social Inclusion, Gender equality, and youth as it had been identified that SGBV is one of the hindrances of gender equality.
Also, the Agency’s Community Engagement Officer, Ikudaisi Oluwatobi urged men to speak out and report any case of segxwal violence in their community, to rid the state of the menace.
Ikudaisi, who stated that the agency’s statutory mandate was to educate, sensitize and ensure that government stance is engrained through its various programmes, said the purpose was to increase awareness on the prevalence of Gender-Based violence in Lagos.
Also, the Assistant Secretary Lagos State Parks and Garages Administrator LASPAGA Babatunde Semiu urged the agency to have its office around each Local Government Area to tackle the issue of gender-based violence in the state.
Semiu noted that it would help to reduce the growing trend of abusive cases in society, stressing that the project would go far in preventing segxwal and domestic violence cases against men.
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