The Lagos State Government has disclosed that no fewer than 70 married men suffered both sexual and domestic violence across metropolis in 2023.
Meanwhile, the government noted that 592 singles and married women experienced both sexual and domestic violence during the year under review.
Aside from this, it disclosed that no fewer than 88 cases were referred after a review of the cases required expertise of the agency to resolve.
The Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Bolaji Dada, made this known on Tuesday during the 2024 ministerial press briefing held in Ikeja.
She said, “On Domestic violence, From 2023 to date the ministry of women affairs and poverty alleviation received a total of 662 cases out of which 592 were women and 70 were men. We also refered 88 cases to the Office of the Public Defender (OPD).
“The purple project was initiated by the Ministry of Women Affairs and poverty alleviation under the domestic violence unit on September 30 2022 in collaboration with Lagos State Emergency Management Agency to respond to issues of sexual and gender based violence. The global of the project is to respond and refer cases of SGBV that are reported through the Lagos state emergency toll free 767.
“The purple project is also collaborating with the Ministry of Youth and Social Development and Head of Department WAPA at the local government level.The main aim of this project is to enable prompt response to cases of gender based violence coming from the grassroots level.”
The Commissioner noted that the ministry has empowered about 10,385 indigenes and vulnerable women through several initiatives across the state. She also noted that most of the families of the slain heroes of Nigerian legion were captured in the empowerment programme.
Dada also noted that 1,500 men and women have participated in the short term skill acquisition programme in the last one year.
“It is an intervention programme aimed to equip the desiring citizenry with different vocational skills that will enhance their economic value and foster self-reliance.”
