Lagos Inducts Student Peer Educators Into Kings, Queens Club

Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency (DSVA) has inducted 201 students drawn from 20 schools in Education District Six into the Kings and Queens Club.

Speaking at the induction ceremony held on Wednesday at the Eko Boys Grammar School, Mushin, the Commissioner for Youth and Social Development, Mr. Mobolaji Ogunlende said the purpose of the initiative was to ensure that boys and girls serve as peer educators in the fight against Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) in Lagos.

While urging them to speak out and report any case of domestic or sexual violence in their community, Ogunlende said the initiative was in line with the T.H.E.M.E.S Plus Agenda of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, particularly youth engagement and social inclusion.

Similarly, the Lawmaker representing Lagos Island Constituency I, in the House of Assembly, Princess Omolara Olumegbon said the programme was aimed at reiterating the State government’s zero tolerance for all forms of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence and addressing the grappling issues of violence that individuals and communities are faced with.

Hon. Olumegbon urged the students to continue to strive for excellence and champion a world free of all forms of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence and to see themselves as ambassadors and change agents in society.

Earlier in her remarks, the Executive Secretary of DSVA, Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi said the initiative was aimed at creating a sustainable social structure in educational institutions that would help debunk sociocultural misconceptions and promote empowered femininity to bring about behavioural and attitudinal change in the minds of young girls in Lagos State

Vivour-Adeniyi said the initiative would also help to constitute an alliance of trained young girls and boys in schools who would serve as peer educators and advocates of positive femininity and masculinity.

She said the club which has exposed the girls and boys to increased knowledge of Gender-Based Violence would enable them to question dominant norms that promote gender inequities as well as challenge myths and misconceptions about violence.

Vivour-Adeniyi said empowering and inaugurating the students into the King’s Club and Queen’s Club Initiative was expedient as children are amongst the statistics of victims who mostly fall prey to paedophiles and forms of abuse.

The Managing Director, Lagos Bus Service Limited (LBSL), Mr. Idowu Ogunlana and the GM of Lagos State Parking Authority (LASPA), Mrs. Adebisi Adelabu, who both serve as Mentors, presented Certificates and IDs to the students while another mentor, Mr. Olaonipekun Kazeem gave the Charge to the students at the event.

A student of Euba Senior Secondary School, Babayomi Abraham, whilst recounting what he had learnt during the six-week programme, urged his peers to remember to demonstrate Grit, Tenacity and Resilience as these are critical attributes for them as they sojourn into adulthood.

Meanwhile, after taking the Pledge of Allegiance, the students from Education District VI were subsequently inducted into the club and awarded certificates and identity cards to validate their induction into the Kings and Queens Clubs.

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