In continuation of its Lagos State Secondary School students’ sensitisation and awareness campaign, the Office of the Public Defender (OPD) has extended the Child’s Rights Law and Domestic Violence campaign to the students of Government College, Ikorodu.
Speaking during the awareness campaign held recently, the Assistant Director of Legal, Office of the Public Defender, Mr. Olajide Odusanya, enlightened students and staff of the College on the various provisions of the law on human rights and Lagos State Child’s Rights law, noting that the law was designed to safeguard their rights as children in the State.
According to him, the Office of the Public Defender was purposely established to offer free legal services to victims of such violation, especially children and other vulnerable members of the public, as well as to ensure that culprits are punished for violation of any individual’s rights, irrespective of relationship, status and position in the society.
He urged the students to take advantage of OPD’s Ikorodu office or any of its offices to report any case of rights violation for immediate action, assuring them that such a case will be treated with dispatch and ultimate confidentiality.
The Head of Social Workers Unit, OPD, Habeeb Dosunmu spoke on what constitutes domestic violence and how it can be prevented, adding that victims of such violence and sexual harassment can report and be protected by OPD using the instrumentality of the law.
He enjoined the students not to allow any individual, irrespective of relationship, to take undue advantage of their body because of age, sex and vulnerability or to exploit them sexually or physically, stressing that any such abuse should be quickly reported to the appropriate authority within the school or to the nearest office of the OPD.
The sensitisation and awareness campaign was part of the carefully designed communication strategies of OPD to increase public awareness about the activities of the Office among the students and members of the public.
