Mrs Olubukoka Olaboopo, the Osun Commissioner for Women, Children and Social Affairs, on Wednesday, says the ministry has created a women clinic where depressed, abused women can get help, physically and psychologically.

Olaboopo made this known during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Osogbo.

The commissioner explained that the ministry as a social welfare organ had been working toward protecting the interest of women and children. She added that the ministry had made it a duty to ensure that women and children received topmost attention and care in the state.

She said: “The women clinic is a new innovation of the ministry and we have lawyers, social workers, guidance counsellors, and clinical psychologists who attend to survivors.

“Apart from survivors of Gender Based Violence (GBV), we also attend to any woman who feels that she is in need of care, assistance, counseling and others.

“We are aware that there are many women in distress and many others who feel like committing suicide; so, the clinic is just a way of giving them a shoulder to lean on.

“Some of them are not able to confide even in their pastors or imams for fear of stigmatisation. So, we operate in a highly professional way, as we cannot go about discussing personal issues, there is confidentiality and privacy.

“When they talk to us, we look at how to assist them and sometimes give them legal aid, at no cost to them.

“During the upsurge of GBV cases as a result of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown, we expanded the state toll-free line – 293, so that anybody can talk to us 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and we promptly attended to them at no cost to them.”

Olaboopo also said that the ministry was equally doing more to ensure that abused women, either sexually or physically, received justice. She noted that the ministry was collaborating with the Ministry of Justice and the Police, to ensure that perpetrators of GBV we’re brought to book. (NAN)

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