On Thursday, the Lagos State government revealed that between August 2022 and July 2023, there were at least 2,588 domestic violence incidents in the state that involved sexual or emotional abuse of children.

At a press conference for the 2023 Domestic and Sexual Violence Awareness Month, with the theme “Not in my Lagos,” the Permanent Secretary and Solicitor-General, Ms. Titilayo Shitta-Bey, made this declaration..

Mrs. Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi, the Executive Secretary of the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency, spoke on her behalf. She added that 40% of the children had been put through counselling to make sure they could deal with the events they had witnessed psychologically without having a long-lasting negative effect on them.

Shitta-Bey said: “From August 1, 2022, to July 31, 2023, the agency has handled 5624 cases which are into two categories, adults and children.

“The agency now receives an average of 250 clients every month. For adults, 91 per cent of survivors were female, 9 per cent were male, while for children, 45 per cent of survivors were boys, 55 per cent were girls.

“In the period under review, the Agency has provided services to 7 Persons with Disabilities who were experiencing one form of Gender-Based Violence or another.

“The youngest child that experienced sexual violence was an 18-month-old baby, while the oldest client that experienced domestic violence was a 79-year-old woman.