13th May, 2011
At least, 137 children in Lagos State have been raped in the last one year, says the Lagos State Government.
Also, 50 rapists are currently being prosecuted by the state government over abuse on children, government spokesperson added.
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, WAPA, Mrs. Risqat Akiyode, who disclosed this at a news conference on Thursday lamented cases of child abuse in the state, saying that there were 137 reported cases at government disposal in the last one year.
She said 25 men were currently being prosecuted over violence on children while 25 other men were currently in government’s custody, awaiting prosecution over abuse on children.
According to her, 73 children abused by men had been returned to their parents, adding that government was ready to prosecute offenders under the child rights law.
Akiyode said the ministry had deployed five buses to carry out motorised campaign against child abuse, saying that this had been effectively done but that the fight against child abuse continues as some parents and guardians had refused to comply with the law.
She disclosed that the state government had disbursed N1.28 billion as loans to small scale traders under the Lagos State Micro-Finance Institution, LASMI in the last four years.
Akiyode added that this year, N585 million had been disbursed by LASMI as loans to traders.
She stated that the ministry, through LASMI had partnered with eight approved micro-finance banks to disburse the micro-credit to active poor in the state.
According to her, “in order to further reduce poverty in the state, the ministry has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Coca Cola Company PLC to roll out 2,000 iconic kiosks that will be distributed to women, men and youths in the state.
“This is a specially branded multi-purpose kiosk that will solve the problem of scarce conventional shops in the state,†she stated.
In the area of child development, the permanent secretary disclosed that 508,094 primary school children had been dewormed in the last four years in order to reduce the scourge of worm infestation in children in the state.
—Kazeem Ugbodaga