The Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency (DSVA) has said at least 60 per cent of the survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) had first reported to their religious leaders.
Its Executive Secretary, Mrs Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi, said this at a training on sexual and gender-based violence at Ikeja.
She said sometimes they deploy mediation, yet the issue persisted.
It has, therefore, she said, become compelling to build capacity of counsellors in the religious leaders on when to refer cases.
Mrs Vivour-Adeniyi said over 54 religious marriage counsellors attended the event, which was held in partnership with the Ministry of Home Affairs and Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).
She said it was borne out of the fact that the state recognises the indispensable role the religious institutions play in shaping belief, confronting norms and will continue to enhance their reservoir of knowledge to become better advocates for change within their respective communities.
The ES said domestic and sexual violence in marriage is spreading its tentacles, a spiral of events which demands attention of all.
She stressed that the state government had remained resolute to safeguarding the sanctity of every individual, regardless of gender or background.
“We know that religion plays a huge role in shaping mindset, directing behaviours and we also know the role of the religious clerics as well as the role marriage counsellors in different religious institutions play in promoting and discouraging perpetration of sexual and gender-based violence.
“We thought it is expedient to bring them together, enlighten them about various forms of sexual and gender-based acts and equip them with skills required in their counselling duties, either during pre-counselling for intending couples or post-counselling for married couples,
“More importantly, the putting together of this programme is designed to infuse key issues such as psychometric tests to assess compatibility, red flags, coping mechanisms , love codes and other relevant topics into the pre marital Counselling offered by religious bodies for intending couples,’’ Mrs Vivour-Adeniyi said.
A facilitator at the training, Mrs. Motolani Falabi, emphasised the need for the individuals going into marriage to understand their identities and what a marriage is, before picking up that responsibility and ensuring they know the building blocks that is crucial to having a successful marriage.
Mrs Falabi, who is the Chief Executive Officer, Praise Fowowe Limited, said: “The future of the society is at the mercy of our marriage and the couple must have someone that can mentor them. So, marriage must have a vision, value, and focus which invariably will determine the kind of children that will be churned out into the society.
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“The family is the production factory of the society and it is the future of our world rests on good parenting and if we get it right, then, we can have a better world.”
Another facilitator, Mr Oladele Emmanuel Temilade, spoke on the origin of domestic violence and how to prevent it.
He added that counsellors should ensure that they teach the prospective couple not based on culture, religion, or native intelligence, but must be done professionally and people that would be engaging them are better equipped and not working based on culture.
Another facilitator, Mrs Folasade Ajayi, took the Session on Post-Marital Counselling, stressing on red flags and coping mechanisms.
Acknowledging the state government efforts, the religious marriage counsellors also appreciated the agency for bringing to the fore, issues that would make swift prevention and response to sexual violence in marriage, particularly how marriage counsellors could restore peace to homes.
They emphasised the need to intensify advocacy on premarital engagement by professional counsellors and eradicate the misunderstanding in most marriages.
