The Lagos State government on Monday trained 62 civil servants and staff of tertiary institutions in the state on how to provide a uniformed response to domestic and sexual violence cases.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the training is a project of the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT), which is supported by the European Union Funded Spotlight Initiative.
The attendees were trained on the contents of the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Uniformed Response Protocol and Referral Pathway (URPRP).
The URPRP is a manual that provides a multi-sectoral, survivor-centered approach for responding to domestic and sexual violence.
Mr Moyosore Onigbanjo, the Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, said URPRP was developed to guide the operations of all stakeholders providing domestic violence response services.
“It is to also set minimum standards for the provision of quality and efficient services to survivors of domestic and sexual violence.
“This is most compelling as responding to sexual and gender based violence requires a multi-disciplinary approach.
“The URPRP, therefore, outlines a state-wide, consistent, predictable and holistic response mechanism to incidents of domestic violence from access to healthcare, legal support, law enforcement and other services,” he said.
The Lagos state attorney general, also the Chairman of the DSVRT, said the training sought to strengthen other existing domestic violence response machinery in Lagos such as Sexual Assault Referral Centres and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs).
Prof. Olufunmilayo Banmeke, the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lagos, said a multi-sectoral approach was ideal to tackling domestic violence cases.
Banmeke, the lead consultant of the URPRP project, said the training sought to emphasise the “two Cs” which is cooperation and collaboration between the various stakeholders.
“In the course of developing this project, we had meetings with various groups of stakeholders.
“We noticed that stakeholders complained that other groups of stakeholders are usually in conflict with them when responding to domestic violence cases.
“To avoid this in future, we are having this training which seeks to bring everyone on the same page in responding to domestic violence. It will also strengthen the system we have in Lagos,” Banmeke said.
Mrs Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi, the Coordinator of the DSVRT, said focal persons from relevant government agencies, NGOs and civil society organisations were instrumental in the preparation of the URPRP.
“Our profound gratitude is extended to the Chief Judge of Lagos State as well the Lagos State Commissioners for Health, Education, Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation and Youth and Social Development.
“They promptly reviewed and endorsed this document, thereby demonstrating political will in ensuring full implementation of same,” Vivour-Adeniyi said.
Some of attendees at the training included staff of the Lagos State Ministry of Health, Office of the Public Defender, Citizens Mediation Center (CMC) and the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.
Others are: Staff of University of Lagos, Lagos State University, Yaba College of Technology, State Universal Basic Education Board and Lagos State Polytechnic as well as Education District School Counsellors. (NAN)
