A Non-governmental Organisation, the Centre for Children’s Health Education Orientation and Protection, (CEE-HOPE) Nigeria recently met with Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) and Community Development Associations (CDAs) and other stakeholders so as to partner and to promote the setting up of community-based committees to curb Sexual and Gender Based Violence in the selected communities.
It was the fifth meeting with stakeholders as part of its ongoing advocacy project tilted ‘Enhancing Community Systems for Preventing and Responding to Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) in Lagos’ Informal Communities’ in collaboration with RiseUp.
The year-long project aims to end SGBV especially rape in three Lagos informal communities namely Makoko, Bariga and Otto-Ilogbo by working closely with local chiefs, CBOs and other stakeholders and by engaging with relevant external bodies such as the Lagos State’s Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency (DSVA), the Lagos State Attorney-General’s office, rape crisis response centres, the Nigerian police among others.
The community outreach was held recently at the CEE-HOPE’s community centre in Makoko where various community stakeholders and individuals from Makoko, Otto-Ilogbo, and Bariga converged to deliberate on how to ensure that GBV survivors get help, ensure perpetrators are brought to justice quickly and serve as a lesson for other community members.
According to the Founder and Executive Director, CEE-HOPE Nigeria, Betty Abah, “Our aim is to enlighten people and to help them curb the menace of rape in their communities. We have more rape cases in Africa, the people abroad have minimized cases of rape not because of their skin colour but because the laws there are effective”
She enjoined the community people to come up with community committee members who are accessible, who can easily report rape cases in the community to the police themselves.
Mrs. Bimbo Osobe, a community Activist, representing the Bariga community, supported the move, she said stigmatisation is one the reasons parents don’t pursue rape cases, that there are situations where parents are usually the stumbling block when a child reports an abuse and she used the opportunity to appeal to parents to support their children.
“I will appeal to parents to try and open up when anyone is handling the case to help the child. It is left for the family to agree. We are also appealing to young girls to speak up without fear of stigmatisation, and parents should learn to put themselves in the child’s shoes.”
Chief Claudius Adewale from Makoko enjoined all to cooperate with CEE-HOPE and the representatives from the other communities as rape was an epidemic that needed to be dealt with.
Chief Mrs. Christiana Adeyemi from Sogunro, and who is also part of the committee from her community advised everyone not to cover up what is evil in the society to prevent it from becoming bigger issues as this kind is not new in the community.
At the end of the meeting, committees were set up from the various communities including local chiefs, women leaders, youth leaders among others. Plans were also made to meet with personnel at the various Lagos agencies for further engagements.
The local chiefs and community leaders agreed to ensure that the committees succeeds by collaborating with CEE-HOPE and the various agencies. Besides the CDAs and CBOs, the meeting attracted some police personnel.
