The Lagos State Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation revealed, on Tuesday, that a total of 662 reports of domestic and sexual violence were received by the ministry in one year.
The Commissioner for Women Affairs, Bolaji Dada, stated this in Ikeja during a ministerial briefing in commemoration of the first anniversary of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s second term in office.
Dada said the ministry’s vision was to lead in sustainable poverty reduction and women’s protection in Nigeria, noting that the ministry was also committed to women’s development and eradication of gender-based violence through regular women-focused programmes and interventions.
While highlighting the achievements of the ministry, she noted that between 2023 and 2024, 70 cases of domestic violence that concerned males were recorded while 592 cases that concerned females were recorded, totalling 662.
Noting that economic hardship could worsen crime incidents in the state, the commissioner said, “When citizens are faced with economic challenges, there’s a tendency to take to all manner of vices and at the end of the day, they become a menace to society. The Lagos State government being a responsible one has in various capacities put up programmes which are not only beneficial to women but cut across the two genders in order to have a crime-free society.”
In February, the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency, a sub-department of the state Ministry of Justice, warned against false domestic and sexual violence accusations by citizens.
The Executive Secretary of the agency, Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi, made the call in an interview with The .
She warned that the agency would always conduct investigations before seeking justice in a court of law, noting the Lagos State Domestic Violence Law stipulated that false statements attracted three years imprisonment.
