NGO’S team up against sexual violence

Daniel Kanu

As part of activities marking the recent 16 days of activism to end Gender-Based Violence, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), the Centre for Children’s Health Education, Orientation and Protection (CEE-HOPE) partnered with two other NGOs to sensitize children at Makoko in Lagos, Nigeria’s biggest slum settlement.

Also the Ministry of Justice, Lagos state was part of the initiative as it condemned the rampant abuse of children sexually while vowing to ensure that culprits are made to face the music.

The socially-relevant and need-meeting NGOS, Jabez Place, a sexual violence awareness organization, and the Children, Youth and Women Empowerment Initiative (CHIYOWO) engaged the over 60 children drawn from Makoko and other environs across Lagos.

Jabez Place led by Adesola Alamutu, a gender rights activist and founder of Children and the Environment (CATE) and Iquo Diana-Abasi, a poet and writer, enlightened the children on how to stay safe and avoid being sexually violated, stressing that the COVID-19 period has led to increased rates of rape and other forms of sexual violence.

Yemi Oni, Head, Legal Services, Lagos State Ministry of Justice, who was in attendance gave similar advice, urging the children to be more sensitive to their environment as well as report any such cases that they have experienced.

Speakers after the other encouraged the children to be alert, self-aware and confident and to report attempted violation to their teachers and other authority figures around them.

CHIYOWO Initiative’s representatives, Onyeka Titigbe and Lameed Opeyemi, sensitized the children, both boys and girls, on the need to imbibe a good reading culture as it helps to widen the horizon of their knowledge and also imbues them with a heightened sense of self-awareness about their rights and the confidence to report and prevent potential child abuse.

CHIYOWO also donated 300 copies of books including story books and those on various topics to CEE-HOPE.

Betty Abah, CEE-HOPE founder, expressed gratitude to the speakers for coming to enrich the children’s lives. She also described CHIYOWO’s gesture as life-enhancing.

“The sensitization –talks on sexual violence prevention to these teenagers are simply priceless considering the high incidences of sexual violence especially against young persons that we face in the course of the pandemic.

“The books donation from CHIYOWO is equally priceless, as you never can tell the extent of impact of these books, and as we say, ‘Readers are leaders,” she added.

The books, Abah said, would go to CEE-HOPE’S community libraries in Makoko, Monkey Village (Lagos) and Agbado Ogun State.

The event also marked the official opening of CEE-HOPE’S new ICT and Youth Hub at Makoko. The youth centre is also CEE-HOPE’S sixth opening for the year. The other five are located in Monkey Village (Lagos) two in Benue, one in Kaduna, one in Jos, Plateau State. Out of the six, three are located in orphanages across Jos, Makurdi and Kaduna while the rest are in marginalized communities.

CEE-HOPE works with vulnerable and at-risk children in marginalized and hard-to-reach communities across the country.