By Lukman Olabiyi
Lagos State Government yesterday said its agency, Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT), has handled 10,007 domestic and sexual violence cases in two years.
The Chairman of DSVRT, Mr Moyosore Onigbanjo, made the disclosure at a press conference held to commemorate the Domestic and Sexual Violence Awareness Month (September).
Onigbanjo, who is also the Attorney-General of Lagos State, said that the domestic, sexual, gender and non-gender based violence were perpetrated against adults and children.
He said that since May 2019, the DSVRT has attended to an average of 150 new cases monthly.
He said DSVRT provides a coordinated response and creates unprecedented levels of collaboration among professionals working to end sexual and gender-based violence in the state.
The DSVRT chairman said that by virtue of the team’s various initiatives, as well as the zero-tolerance declared in the state, there had been steady increase of formal reportage of cases.
“Under Mr Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration, DSVRT has received a total of 10,007 reported cases which include domestic violence and sexual Violence perpetrated against adults and children,” he said.
Onigbanjo said that some of the children had been taken through counselling programmes, to ensure they can psychologically deal with the events they had witnessed, without it having a permanent and negative impact on them. He said that the team also witnessed an increase in reporting of cases from other states, mostly from Ogun and Oyo.