Women
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Aisha Buhari, wife of the Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, lends voice to the fight to end violence against women and children, urging law enforcement officers to prosecute rapists
| By Adaku Onyenucheya | Sep 28, 2015 @ 01:00 GMT |
THE increasing level of rape among women and children has prompted Aisha Buhari, wife of President Muhammadu Buhari, to urge government at all levels to enforce law on rape to protect women and children in the country. She stated this while receiving some staff of the ministry of women affairs, UNICEF and National Population Commission, who paid her a courtesy visit on Monday, September 14.
“We are aware of the national law on rape passed this year on May 25 (Prohibition Act 2015) which states imprisonment ranging from 12 to 20 years. I advocate for the enforcement of this law at all levels. Unfortunately, children are the most vulnerable, being exploited at different stages of their lives,” she said.
According to Buhari, it has become necessary for government and international organisations to pursue policies and laws to protect women and children against the act. “A number of cases on violence against women and children are being reported on daily basis with the most alarming ones happening in higher institutions of leaning. These include sexual harassment and assaults of female students by lecturers as a result of lack of laws and appropriate actions against the perpetrators.”
She said the issue of the violence against children was dear to her heart and would do every possible to salvage the disadvantage situation of children and other vulnerable groups in the society. “It is my hope that with this renewed commitment by agencies, necessary steps will be taken to end violence against women and children particularly where this is rampant.”
She wanted the domestication of the law to end the act in Nigeria and Africa in general. According to sections 31 and 32 of the Nigerian Child Rights Law, fathers convicted of this sort of crime are liable to 14 years in jail among other possible sanctions.
The group led by Ezekiel Oyemomi, permanent secretary, ministry women affairs, said they visited the wife of the president to brief her on their plans to launch an action to end violence against children. He said Nigeria had conducted a survey in collaboration with UNICEF, National Population Commission and Centre for Development of Disease Control and Prevention through the National Planning Commission.
Analysing the survey, he said so far only eight countries had conducted survey on violence against women in the world, including five countries in Africa and Nigeria was first to have done survey in West Africa. He noted that 60 percent of children are usually exposed to one form of violence or the other which include physical, sexual and emotional violence, before the age of 18 years, adding that the survey conducted across the country had showed that the perpetrators were often family members, in the schools, environment and the communities.
He said one out of 10 children would have experienced violence before the age of five and only six percent of the effected children revealed what happened to them. He stressed the need to rehabilitate the victims so that they would not become the perpetrators of the act, adding that when they don’t have this, they might consider suicide attempt, having a lot of distress, going back to drug and smoking due to the trauma in them.
Oyemomi said government was committed to protecting the children and women as well as punishing the perpetrators, noting that the ministry had dedicated a year to end the violence and would review it after.
On her part, Rachael Harvey, representative of UNICEF, said there was need to have powerful voices to end violence against children. She said that NGOs, CBOs, faith-based organisations, community leaders, traditional leaders, among others, must be part of strong voices to end the act. She urged the wife of the president to be part of the strong voice to end the act in the country.
Raping of children has become a common thing in Nigeria. The newspapers and the new media are awash with rape cases on a daily bases being perpetuated by family members. On September 7, 2015, The PUNCH reported how a 41-year-old trader, Emeka Igwe, habitually raped his seven-year-old daughter and gave her N10 as a reward after each encounter. His actions had so corrupted the girl psychologically that the girl had become addicted to masturbation.
In August 2015, the police in Lagos, also arrested a 37-year-old lotto agent, Ajiboye Oluwaseyi, for allegedly raping his two daughters a six-year-old and a four-year-old, and his stepdaughter, 15, in Lekki area of the state. The stepdaughter had been raped many times before she opened up to a neighbour. Oluwaseyi was arrested on August 19, after his wife from whom he had separated, reported the matter to the police.
In June 2015, a 14-year-old senior secondary shool year one student of Araromi Isoju Grammar School in Ikorodu, Lagos State, nearly committed suicide after her 48-year-old father, Adeboye Waheed, raped her twice, taking her virginity in the process. The father was arrested by operatives attached to the Zone 2 of the Nigerian Police, Onikan.
In April 2015, a 47-year-old man, Solomon Ojo, was arraigned in an Ota Senior Magistrates’ Court, Ogun State, for allegedly raping his daughter. Also in February 2015, a 45-year-old man allegedly raped his 11-year-old daughter in Bauchi. Thirty-six-year-old man, Aminu Ajao, was arraigned before an Ebute Meta Magistrate’s Court, Lagos, for allegedly raping and impregnating his 14-year- daughter in January 2014.
All these cases point to a growing epidemic which needed to be checked urgently through diligent prosecution. It also point to the fact that there is a problem with man.
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