A total of 753 gender-based violence reports were received within two years in Lagos State, the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA) has said.

Bolaji Dada, commissioner for women affairs and poverty alleviation, said this Tuesday during the 2021 ministerial press briefing to mark the second anniversary of the Lagos Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in office in Ikeja.

“46 men were violated in the year 2020, while 378 women were violated,” she said.

“And in the year 2021, from January till date, we have had 43 males report gender-based and domestic violence issues and 286 women.”

Mrs Dada said the ministry also distributed food items to over 5000 vulnerable and indigent women during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The UN-Women in collaboration with the Ministry also gave food items to 180 women groups and identified clusters like; people living with disability, people living with HIV/AIDS, and Faith-based groups during the lock-down.

“WAPA-COVID gifts were given to women during the COVID-19 pandemic (Face-mask, Hand sanitizers, etc).”

Poverty alleviation programmes

The commissioner said “in the last two years, the ministry through the Women Affairs Department organized series of programmes and activities, aimed at improving the status of women in Lagos state by making them economically independent.”

She said about 6,780 women have been empowered with vocational skills and have received “startup packs, to help kickstart their businesses” across the state.

“In all, the ministry had trained about 6,780 Women in Twenty-Five (25) Centres within the 3 Senatorial Districts of the State.”

She said some of the women were trained in various vocational skills including hairstyling, tie and dye, event decoration, cakes & snacks production, soap and pomade making, stove wick and Insecticide production in the ministry’s Short-term Vocational Skills Acquisition initiative within four weeks.