Sexual violence: Lagos to equip health centres with rape kits

Lola Akande, commissioner for Women affairs and Youth Development in Lagos state, says the state is committed to working with the United Nations Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) on eliminating violence against children.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Akande listed the steps already taken by the government to reduce the prevalence of violence against children.

“The Lagos state government has approved the establishment of more shelter and transit homes for victims in addition to procurement of rape kits and training for sexual assault examiners at health centres across the state,” she said.

According to her, 60 percent of Nigerian children are victims of violence before they are 18.

“There is a high prevalence of violence against children in Nigeria – approximately six out of every 10 children under the age of 18 experience some form of physical, emotional and sexual violence before the age of 18 years.

“The perpetrators of physical violence during childhood years are the parents or adult relatives.”

Stating that efforts to sensitize the public on desisting from violence against children could not be too much, Akande explained that the campaign would not be different from other ones targeted at stopping violence against children.

“It can never be enough; we will keep on doing it until it is eradicated or reduced to the barest minimum.

“Many cases of violence are not usually reported and for this programme, the technical committee and UNICEF has come up with an action plan to end violence.

“This will be unveiled at the launch of the End Violence against Children campaign on Wednesday, February 24.”

“The Federal government launched its action plan to end violence in September 2015 and all state governments have been mandated to launch their own action plans and that is exactly what we are doing.”