CAUSES AND EFFECT OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN NIGERIA

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY

Domestic violence has caused so many issues in the life of many Nigerians; separating families and friends. Nigeria has always being a very peaceful nation for a very long time; the question is; where did it all went wrong? Ajegunle as the cast study is a very populated area in the heart of Lagos with people of different socio-economic background; mainly families with below income average. The main inhabitants of this area of Lagos are mainly illiterates, from humble back ground. The major cause of domestic violence in Ajegunle is due to the high level of poverty. Families find it difficult eat, pay their children school fees; when the parents can no longer provide for their children, the children starts engaging themselves in illegal acts like stealing and other social vices. Some of the children end up becoming members of different cult groups; they begin to steal, kill to survive; when finally they are being apprehended by the police or killed by other cult groups, the whole fiasco will land on their families respectively. On the 22nd April 2016 in Ajegunle; a father and three of his sons were killed by a group called one million boys. The people that raised the alarm were claiming that the boys were thugs sent by somebody; but the truth is; nobody knows exactly what lead to the death of the man and his three children; it might be a fault of one of the son, it can still be that they were actually being attacked by thugs.

Domestic violence increases on daily bases in this area of Lagos; families are not united; parents cannot give account of their children as to where they are; what they are doing, how they are surviving out there. The life that most children live is as a result of the care and guidance given to them by their parents. Most of the people in Ajegunle still practice the old time tradition where a man have more than one wife; such homes if there are no compatibility of any kind, there will be a huge crises in their families. Finally another cause of domestic violence in Ajegunle is as a result of over population in this area, most of the building there is clustered together; no privacy, poor security etc. this can lead to misunderstanding among families.

1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Domestic violence has being a thorn on the lives of most families in Ajegunle local government area of Lagos, the federal government of Nigeria has always kicked against domestic violence; if domestic violence is not being controlled at the early stage, this can grow to become a major crises in Nigeria. The federal governments of Nigeria, families, friends are looking for a way out of this situation in most of the local areas in Nigeria. Most parents do not start at the early stage to correct these issues until it goes out of control.

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTION

1. What are the roles of parents in the resolution of domestic violence in Ajegunle? 2. What could be the major causes of domestic violence in Ajegunle? 3. Does domestic violence have any significant eect on the socio-economic development of Nigeria? 4. Does the federal government intervention on the issue of domestic violence have any significant eect on the level of crises in Nigeria? 5. Does education help to reduce the eect of domestic violence? 6. Does the family background have any significant eect on domestic violence in Ajegunle? 7. Could high rate of poverty in this area be the major causes of violence in Ajegunle?