Illicit drug deal, gender-based violence must be frontally tackled – Sanwo-Olu

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Tuesday said illicit and gender-based violence must be tackled frontally.

He also said the state government is currently building the biggest mental rehabilitation home in the country to comprehensively address the menace of drug abuse and provide the necessary care for victims.

Sanwo-Olu, who spoke while receiving members of the Southern Governors Wives’ Forum (SGWF) on a courtesy visit at Lagos House, Alausa, Ikeja, said the issue of Illicit dealing in drugs and substance abuse requires serious effort and commitment of all stakeholders to frontally tackle it in the best interest of the society.

He commended the Governors’ Wives for their resilience and support in fighting Sexual and Gender-Based Violence and also drug abuse in their respective states.

“I want to thank you all for your efforts, particularly your pet projects to address Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV). It’s something that permeates everywhere and for us in Lagos, we have faced it with all it takes.

“We have a law and we have also gone further to establish a full-fledged Agency so that they can respond faster and they have all it takes to run faster and not subsumed or delayed. We are giving it the importance that it deserves. The Agency is doing a good job and we acknowledge that there is room for improvement,” he said.

On drug abuse, the Governor said it was encouraging that the SGWF was focusing on it with advocacy and other initiatives to ensure that it remains on the front burner.

According to the Governor, “I also will like to commend you for the advocacy against drug abuse. It is a real issue and it is not something we should gloss over or hide.

“We can see in the papers today where drugs were recovered from a big mansion. A couple of weeks ago, we saw how horrible drugs were uncovered. So, it’s something we need to talk about and we should not shy away from it.

“It cut across – drug issues, mental health issues are things we should speak about and deal with. For us as a government, we are building the biggest mental rehabilitation home in the country as we speak so that we can deal with this problem with all it takes and people that require help, can be supported. Also, people that are criminally minded can be dealt with in accordance with the law.”

Lagos State First Lady, Dr. Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu said members of the SGWF were in Lagos for their Quarterly Meeting, and that the forum is a platform uniting all the Wives of the Southern State Governors and is also an avenue for sharing notes on governance and ideas that can trigger economic and social rebirth.

Also speaking, the President of the SGWF and Wife of Osun State Governor, Mrs. Kafayat Oyetola commended Governor Sanwo-Olu for the huge progress so far made in terms of the blue light rail project and also the proactive measure with which Lagos saved the entire country during the height of COVID-19 pandemic.

She said Gender-Based Violence had been well addressed in Lagos State, and that it was laudable that the Governor’s projects and initiatives are in line with the objectives of Governors’ Wives.

On her part, Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Wives’ Forum (NGWF) and First Lady of Ekiti State, Erelu Bisi Fayemi also commended Governor Sanwo-Olu for putting what Governors’ Wives have always preached into practice which is that there cannot be a success in achieving any of the Sustainable Development Goals without the full and equal participation of women.

“Lagos State has always set the example of what it means to have women in leadership at all levels and so we would like to thank you Mr. Governor and please ask that you continue to encourage other Governors in the country to improve opportunities for women and girls in their States through policies and programs,” she said.

Speaking on the sideline of the visit, the Executive Secretary, Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency (DSVA), Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi, said the agency had remained resolute in its mandate.

She said the mandate of the agency was to reduce the occurrence of sexual and gender based violence to the barest minimum, saying that the agency was doing this through prevention and ensuring effective response once cases were reported in the state.

“We conduct regular trainings, part of our mandate is to build capacity of responder agencies so regularly, we have course to engage these agents in responder agencies like the police, doctors, social workers, nurses, psychologists, and so on,” she said.

Vivour-Adeniyi disclosed that in the past one year, from September 2021, to July 2022, the agency recorded over 4,860 reported cases of domestic and sexual abuse.

“Majority of the cases that we attend to here relates to domestic violence, sexual violence, rape, defilement, sexual assault and other forms of sexual violence,” she said.

On the visit by the Southern governors’ wives, Vivour-Adeniyi said “I think as it is, we’re very encouraged by the political will that has been demonstrated by the Southern governor’s wives forum.

“We know that most of the Southwest states or South southern states have adopted relevant laws, including the violence against persons prohibition law, and of course, the child’s rights law, and it is just to encourage other states that are yet to do so to do so and ensure full implementation.”