LASG unveils Nigeria’s first GBV prevention policy

Mrs Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi

The Lagos State Government has launched what it described as Nigeria’s first Gender-Based Violence Prevention Policy, introducing a data-driven framework to identify, monitor and prevent sexual and gender-based violence across the state.

The policy, unveiled on Thursday, moves Lagos’ approach beyond responding to reported cases to identifying the conditions, locations and social norms that enable violence before it occurs.

It provides for localised data indicators, heat mapping, quarterly reviews and public reporting to track the pattern of GBV and measure the government’s interventions.

The framework also expands the state’s prevention strategy to violence occurring in homes, workplaces, schools and digital spaces, including technology-facilitated sexual and gender-based violence.

The Executive Secretary of the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency, Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi, said the state could not effectively tackle GBV by concentrating only on incidents after they had occurred.

“We cannot continue to focus only on what happens after violence occurs. Prevention requires us to identify the factors that enable violence, challenge harmful social norms and strengthen the systems that protect people before harm occurs,” she said.

“This policy gives us a clear framework to coordinate these efforts across sectors and communities.”

The policy is built around four levels of prevention, covering education and awareness, legal and institutional safeguards, survivor-centred services and the capacity of first responders.

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Under primary prevention, the state will focus on education, awareness and social-norm transformation, including the promotion of consent, bodily autonomy and digital safety.

The secondary prevention pillar targets legal and institutional mechanisms for early intervention and accountability. It includes streamlined standard operating procedures for law enforcement agencies and the use of the Lagos State Sex Offenders Register.

The tertiary pillar centres on survivors, with provisions for services that protect their rights, choices, dignity and privacy while improving access to medical, legal, psychosocial and economic support.

The fourth pillar focuses on strengthening the capacity of first responders and service providers to prevent and respond to SGBV.

Implementation will be overseen by a multi-sectoral Technical Working Group anchored by the DSV Agency and involving relevant ministries, departments and agencies, as well as civil society partners.

The framework’s monitoring system will rely on localised indicators and heat maps to identify patterns and areas requiring intervention, with quarterly reviews and public reporting incorporated into the implementation process.

The Lagos Government said the policy operationalises its declaration of zero tolerance for all forms of SGBV and was developed with support from the Ford Foundation.

The launch represents an attempt by Lagos to institutionalise prevention as a cross-sector responsibility, rather than leaving intervention principally to agencies responding after cases of violence have already been reported.