The Lagos State Ministry of Women and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA) says it received a total of 662 domestic violence cases in the last one year.
The state’s Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Mrs Bolaji Dada, disclosed this at the 2024 Ministerial Press Briefing to mark the first year anniversary of Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s second term in office.
Dada said that WAPA received direct reports of domestic violence from 247 women and 27 men, while it received 324 reports of domestic violence from women and 43 cases from men through WAPA 767 toll free line for domestic violence victims.
According to her, 592 cases out of the total cases reported were dealt with while 88 were referred to the Office of the State Public Defender (OPD) for persecution.
She reiterated the commitment of the state government to empowering and engaging more indigent and vulnerable women in skills acquisition through WAPA.
‘Women who are not empowered are more vulnerable to domestic violence and that is why the stat
e government has put in place empowerment programmes to engage women in various skills for financial dependency,’ she said.
Dada said the ministry had aligned its programmes with the T.H.E.M.E.S.+ Agenda of the Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration to promote social inclusion by ensuring that no one is left out in the economic cold.
She noted that the state government, through WAPA, trained 13,500 women and men, through its Short Term Skills Acquisition Programme.
‘The four-week programme is an empowerment scheme with the goal of alleviating the challenges faced by indigent residents through skills acquisition and sundry vocational trainings.
‘In order to promote women focused programmes through our various initiatives as well as delivering on our mandates on intervention programmes, citizens are trained and supported with startup packs in different skills of their choice.
‘There are 19 Skills Acquisition Centres across three Senatorial Districts of the state with 20 vocation taught-courses ranging from hai
r and wig making, barbing, soap, pomade, insecticide production, tie and dye, cake, snacks and beverages production.
‘The locations of the centres are in Ibike – Isheri Olowora, Badagry Division, Ikeja, Lagos Island and Epe-Division and you can walk in and make inquiries on all our programmes/vocations which are tuition free,’ she said.
Dada commended the state government for providing prompt resources and support to WAPA.
The commissioner said the ministry would continue to collaborate with both local and international bodies to empower more women in Lagos.
Source: News Agency of Nigeria