Límite de la calidad promedio de salida ,LCPS, ( AOQL) Los planes de

The domestic violence awareness drive is gaining momentum in Nigeria. It is mostly championed by NGOs and some state governments, like Lagos State. Also, the mainstream media, which hitherto paid less attention to the issue is currently taking the lead in reporting and condemning incidences of domestic violence. Interestingly, the emergence of social media has enhanced the rate of spreading the awareness and reporting of incidences of domestic violence in Nigeria and globally. The Nigerian law enforcement agencies are not left out in the current wave of tackling the issue of domestic violence. The police, which previously, used to treat issues of domestic violence as a “private/family matter” and were always reluctant to investigate or press charges when such issues were reported to them, are now receiving training organised by various NGOs and the government on the appropriate response to domestic violence.41 _{Though, the police have not}

reached the level of response and compliance expected of them in dealing with domestic violence matters, they are, nonetheless, far better than they were some of years ago. The story of a young woman, Blessing, who lived in Enugu, the capital of Enugu State in the South East geopolitical zone in Nigeria serves to illustrate the shortcomings of the past Police practice. Blessing was a PhD holder and an

39 _{BBC News, ‘Nigeria's Sultan of Sokoto rejects gender equality bill’ BBC News (28 December 2016)}

<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-38449822> accessed 28 July 2017.

40 _{Anarado (n 29).}

41 _{Police Service Commission, Nigeria, ‘Domestic Violence Policy for The Nigeria Police Force’}

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appointee of then newly established Anti-Corruption Commission. She reported to the police that her husband and his two sisters threatened to kill her. The police told her to go home and come back in two days if the situation did not improve. She did not live to keep the appointment as she was murdered by her husband and his two sisters on the eve of the appointment.42 Eze-Anaba, of the Legal Defence and Assistance Project of Amnesty International in Nigeria has condemned how the Nigerian law enforcement agents treat reported cases of domestic violence, ‘dismissive attitudes within the police and a justice system that is difficult to access compound the failures of the state to protect Women’s rights’.43

The Nigerian justice system now appears to be dealing with the issue of domestic violence with the seriousness it deserves. They seem to feel as well as respond to public impulse on the matter. The judiciary showed their determination not to spare domestic violence perpetrators by sentencing the husband of Titilayo Arowolo who was murdered by her husband in their home in Lagos to death.44 _{Titilayo was}

a career banker and had a daughter with her husband. Her murder galvanised the push for stiffer penalties for domestic violence perpetrators and the passing of the domestic violence bill by the National Assembly. The murder of Titilayo prompted a nationwide campaign for more robust responses to reported cases of domestic violence by the police and other law enforcement agencies. Another domestic violence case that made headline news all over the country was that of the ex- paramount ruler of the Akure Kingdom in Ondo State. The paramount ruler of Akure Kingdom, the Deji of Akure, Oluwadare Adesina Adepoju (Osupa111), was deposed by the Ondo State Government on 10 June 2010, for beating up his estranged wife, Bolanle.45 _{The action taken by the State Government in deposing}

42 _{Project Alert, No Safe Haven (Project Alert, July – September 2003)}

<http://www.projectalertnig.org/randd.html> accessed 13 May 2017; Amnesty International, ‘Nigeria: Unheard Voices – Violence against women in the family’ (31 May 2005)

<http://www.refworld.org/docid/439463b24.html> accessed 6 June 2017.

43 _{Itoro Eze-Anaba, ‘Nigeria: New report finds shocking level of violence against Women's right’s right’s}

rights's rights's rights's rights in the home’ <http://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/nigeria-. new-report-finds-shocking-level-violence-against-womens-rightss-rightss> accessed 8 May 2017.

44 _{Henry Ojelu & Irene Nwaro, ‘Arowolo sentenced to death for killing banker wife’ PMNews (Lagos, 21}

February 2014).

45 _{Dayo Johnson, ‘I have learnt my lessons, deposed Deji of Akure begs for reinstatement’ Vanguard}

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the King was praised by many Nigerians who saw it as a wake-up call to all and sundry that no position of authority will shield anyone from prosecution if he/she perpetuates any act of intimate partner violence in the country.

While the efforts to tackle the spate of domestic violence in Nigeria are gathering momentum on all fronts, it appears that some Nigerians are not aware of acts that constitute it.46 _{Moreover, their awareness of domestic violence, if any, is mainly}

limited to physical violence. Even in the case of physical abuse, as earlier mentioned in chapter two, research shows that many women do not perceive it as a crime or an infringement on their human rights.47 _{Likewise, most Nigerian men}

that are victims of domestic violence are oblivious of the abuse.48 They regard certain behaviour by their wives, which constitutes domestic violence as normal, such as verbal abuse, name-calling, belittling, and unjustified refusal of sex.49 _It

appears that due to limited understanding of what constitutes domestic violence, some Nigerians either indulge in the act or become victims without regarding it as an abuse. Furthermore, this limited knowledge of the acts that constitute domestic violence, cuts across all spheres of the Nigerian society – the educated, working- class professionals, religious, traditional rulers, politicians, and even those in the medical, teaching, and legal professions.50

In order to enlighten the public on the issues of domestic violence and the state’s law against it, the Lagos State Gender Advocacy Team (LASGAT) started embarking on a state-wide campaign to raise awareness of domestic violence.51

Furthermore, LASGAT sought to enlighten Lagosians on the existence of the Lagos State Domestic Violence Law titled: Protection Against Domestic Violence

46 _{Clifford O Odimegwu (n 6).}

47 _{Oyediran Kolawole Azeez and Uche C Isiugo-Abanihe, ‘Perceptions of Nigerian Women on Domestic}

Violence: Evidence from 2003 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey’ (2005) AJRH 9(2) 38- 53.

48 _{Clifford Odimegwu (n 6).}

49 _{Anthony Abayomi Adebayo (n 18).}

50 _{Women for women, ‘The Reality of Domestic Violence in Nigeria’ (Women for women International}

27 April 2017) <http://www.womenforwomen.org/blog/reality-domestic-violence-nigeria> accessed 25 July 2017.

51 _{LASGAT and GPGDC embarked on a state-wide domestic violence campaign in the period from 13 to}

17 October 2014. The domestic violence campaign is a yearly event undertaken by LASGAT and GPGDC to create awareness of domestic violence throughout Lagos State.

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and Connected Purposes Act.52 _{The law was enacted in 2007 and cited as Lagos}

State Domestic Violence, 2007.53 The Grassroots people and Gender Development Centre (GPGDC), which is a member of LASGAT, also participated in the awareness campaign, and helped to bring it to the grassroots in the four corners of Lagos State including, market places, schools and places of worship.54 When the GPGDC team visited the Toluwani Montessori School, Egan Igando in Lagos State, the proprietor of the school, Mrs Akanji Mobolaji, ‘appreciated the GPGDC team for taking the campaign message to the grassroots and to the pupils of the school. She expressed her joy over the campaign and remarked, ‘I am so happy to see things happening in Nigeria since after the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in Beijing’.55 _{Also, a participant at one of the enlightenment}

campaigns, Mr Chidi, said during the interactive session that:

Women are usually beaten due to their nagging behaviour or for disobeying the husband or when she refuses to stay where her husband wants her to stay. He said that there is a deep cultural belief in Nigeria that it is socially acceptable to hit a woman to discipline her, even as religious beliefs also tend to suggest that women must obey their husband whether the issues are in her interest or not.56

Section Two