The Ogun State Government revealed that it has empowered 200 girls in public secondary schools with teargas canisters to help them fight against sexual assault.
The Director of Women Empowerment Services, Ministry of Women Affairs, Wonuola Kazeem, disclosed this during an accountability meeting on strengthening access to community-based psycho-social support for survivors of violence against women and girls.
She spoke at the programme organised by the Centre For Women Health and Information held in Abeokuta, the state capital.
The Director of Administration of the centre, Atinuke Odukoya had earlier reported that a research was carried out in three states in the south West; Ogun, Oyo and Osun with a focus on women and girls which later exposed the extent of gender-based violence in the three selected states.
Odukoya said about 100 schools in the three states were selected for the projects and information about gender-based violence in the states were extracted.
Reacting to the report, director of women empowerment services in the ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Wonuola Kazeem disclosed that 200 female students have been given teargas canister as protection against predators.
She added that the state government has also visited 90 schools to empower the students and sensitize them
