By Moses Adeniyi
The Lagos State Government (LASG) in conjunction with the United Nations Population Funds (UNFPA) has organised a capacity building for key stakeholders in school management in an effort to tackle the menace of Gender Based Violence (GBV) and mitigate the preponderance of child, domestic and sexual abuse.
The stakeholders were drawn from the six Education Districts of the State, the State’s Ministry of Education, Office of Education Quality Assurance (OEQA), State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS), and Association of Private Education of Nigeria (APEN).
In his welcome address to the participants, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Youth and Social Development, Dr. Aina Olugbemiga noted that the basis for the organisation of the capacity building was to share knowledge and present stakeholders with the opportunity to interact with Government MDAs directly involved in providing intervention on sexual/domestic abuse of young people.
He added that the capacity building programme was informed by the fact that some of the counselors and teachers were not aware of the various Government interventions on sexual/domestic abuse of young people and the agencies through which they can seek medical assistance and legal redress if need be.
According to him, “Adolescents and young people are a vulnerable segment of the population susceptible to violence, abuse, exploitation and the harmful health consequences of poor sexual and reproductive health choices.
“Unfortunately, a lot of them do not disclose the incidents due to threat from the perpetrators, stigmatisation, disbelief or punishments by the parents,” he lamented.
The Permanent Secretary, further disclosed that some of the factors responsible for poor response to gender based violence and prevention of domestic/sexual abuse amongst young people include “inadequate access to information and services, poverty, inadequate gender norm, lack of knowledge about puberty, sexuality and basic human rights.”
Represented by Mr Saka Abdulateef, a director in the ministry, the Permanent Secretary stated that school system plays an essential role in protecting children from abuse because they have regular contact with children.
“The role of the school system cannot be overemphasised as they have regular contact with children and young people, so they are in a strong position to identify signs of abuse and neglect. So school system is key in the reduction of the menace of sexual abuse and domestic violence among our adolescents in schools,” he said.
Commenting on the role of the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu led Administration in addressing domestic and gender-based violence as well as child and sexual abuse, the permanent secretary noted that the administration has remained at the forefront of tackling the menace with the recent signing of the legislation transforming the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT) into a full-blown agency.
The DSVRT legislation, according to him, provides for the establishment of Sexual Offenders’ Register that would help the State efficiently tackle violations in the communities, thereby nipping child domestic/sexual abuse in the bud.
According to Aina, the Ministry of Youth and Social Development in collaboration with UNFPA had designed Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) into the curriculum of non-formal vocations and technical centers in the state, thereby providing a framework for the acquisition of knowledge of self and family living.
In her comments, the Coordinator UNFPA, Southwest zone, Dr Esther Somefun, stated that the organisation has zero tolerance for all forms of sexual exploitation and abuse which according to her necessitated the collaboration with the State’s Ministry of Youth and Social Development to organise a capacity building for stakeholders in school management in order to create a safe haven for students whereby the right of learners are protected.
According to her, the collaboration of the global agency with MYSD was to tackle the gender based violence and sexual exploitation which have almost turned schools to dangerous learning environment in which both girls and boys are adversely affected leading to depression, pregnancy which could abort the child’s ambition.
Somefun further stated that because most school authorities do not always handle cases of domestic or sexual abuse appropriately, victims suffer unduly.
Mentioning that not only the girl-child is affected but also boys are at risk, she submitted that it was important to strengthen awareness about the menace, as the fight against the phenomenon continues.
Stakeholders who participated in the workshop expressed appreciation to the State Government for organising such programme.