Temi Otedola, one of the daughters of businessman Femi Otedola has canvassed better treatment for survivors of sexual abuse in Nigeria.
To her, one good way to start is provision of centres where survivors can access free medical examinations, free PTSD counselling, free emotional support following an attack and free social welfare services such as access to shelters and legal aid.
In a post on Instagram, she recounted how, while preparing for her role in Citation movie, she did a deep dive of research into the way survivors of sexual abuse, and this took her to pay visited one of the rape crisis centers.
According to her, she felt safe, calm, in an immaculately clean space, exactly the surroundings someone who has just experienced a traumatic episode needs.
Here is here post” “On the 12th of November 2020, I visited the WARIF Rape Crisis Centre opened by Dr. Kemi DaSilva-Ibru as part of the initiatives implemented by @warif_ng for the first time. I have been a WARIF Ambassador for a while but this visit intensified my feelings for this cause even more. When preparing for my role in Citation I did a deep dive of research into the way survivors of sexual abuse are treated in Nigeria and how very often they feel like there’s no one there to help them.⠀
“WARIF has set up this centre to tackle just that. Survivors can expect FREE medical examinations, FREE PTSD counselling, FREE emotional support following an attack and FREE social welfare services such as access to shelters and legal aid. When I walked into the centre, I instantly had a feeling of being in a safe, calm, immaculately clean space, exactly the surroundings someone who has just experienced a traumatic episode needs. I want to give a huge thank you to Dr Anie and Mide for giving me such an in-depth tour of the centre, and reminding me of just how far-reaching this issue is… ⠀
“Most victims of sexual violence who come in are children, they fear the taboo that rape brings AND the attackers are almost always people living in their homes or close to them. The fight to protect our women continue 🇳🇬 and I commend my WARIF family for making a 24-hour helpline (08092100009) and this centre available for free! Let’s spread the word that these resources exist. And to any survivors reading this… we are with you always.”