Health, society
While the Nigerian youth and some concerned parents and patriots are still agonizing over the litany of challenges confronting them, they appear to have accepted the abysmal conditions they find themselves despite the enormous resources of the nation.
By Anthony Isibor.
ALTHOUGH high youth unemployment, police brutality, poverty are commonly listed as some of the problems of the Nigerian youth, not enough attention has been paid to the increasing wave of kidnapping of students from their schools, rape by bandits and armed herdsmen and the issue of incest by family members on the troubled Nigerian youth.
However, the activities of the armed herdsmen and their notorious engagement of raping young girls in farms and forests have further raised more awareness on the menace of rape and the harmful effects on the victims.
Another ugly sexual activity that is beginning to gain momentum in the country that requires equal attention is ‘Incest’. According to the Oxford English dictionary, incest is “sexual relations between people classed as being too closely related to marry each other, or the crime of having sexual intercourse with a parent, child, sibling, or grandchild”.
Many parents, stakeholders, including psychologist have already raised an alarm on the increasing menace of incest in the society. Statistics show that cases of incest are reported daily in the country due largely to the decay in cultural, religious and moral values.
In 2019, Alagbe Oyedeji, a lawyer, told an Ikeja Domestic Violence and Sexual Offences Court how a father allegedly used his fingers to test his 12-year-old daughter’s virginity and then raped her. He also reported how the man would lace the girl’s drink with a drug to make her sleepy; then have carnal knowledge of her at their Oworonsoki, Lagos home.
The newspapers are constantly awash with reports of incestuous acts perpetrated by family members, especially by parents against their children.
The International Federation of Women Lawyers, FIDA, in Plateau, revealed that the organization was battling with lots of cases on incest ranging from fathers raping daughters to uncles raping nieces and cases of brother with a sister/cousin, it is also said that even a man sleeping with his wife’s biological sister is also incest because incest refers to sexual intercourse among members of the same family. “We have also handled a case of a 15-year-old girl that is two months pregnant for her father, who is 75 years old,” she said.
A research conducted by the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN reflected the views of many stakeholders, including child rights activists, sociologists, lawyers and clerics on the factors behind the rising cases of incest in the country.
Some of the stakeholders identified lack of traditional family values, moral decadence, broken homes, emotional imbalance, a shift in family roles due to poverty and ignorance among others.
For instance, in Foluso Adigun, the immediate past President of Women Connected By Purpose, WCBP, an NGO, said that “more incest cases were being recorded because of lack of family values and communal living”.
“Economic hardship and the shift in the role of women were also contributory factors because fewer women now stay at home and watch over their children. The infiltration of western influences and negative attitudes also promote incest in the society,” she said.
In Jalingo, Taraba state, Rev. Christopher Adekaa, Pastor in charge of the Glorious Living Church, condemned the act of incest in society, saying that most of the incestuous activities were ritually motivated.
Sunday Bamidele, a sociologist, identified broken home as the top-ranking reason for incestuous relationships in Nigerian society. He told NAN that easy access to pornography through the internet could encourage siblings, who most of the times are left alone to engage in sexual intercourse.
A Psychologist with the Benue State University, BSU, David Denen, regretted that the habit was growing like a “wildfire in the wilderness”. He said victims of incest turned to suffer depression as they live with the act throughout their lives without sharing such experiences with others.
In the same vein, Veronica Daa’or, Founder of Elohim Foundation Makurdi said the failure to bring such sex offenders to book or be identified was the reason for the rising cases of incest.
For Sharon Omotosho, the Coordinator of the Women Research and Documentation Centre at the University of Ibadan, some people do it for spiritual purposes, money rituals and longevity and those looking for fame
On the medical and psychological problems associated with incest, a report by TheCable said that “children are not physically or psychologically ready for sexual relations. The act of incest is damaging to their bodies. In many cases, these young girls get pregnant and are forced to get a quack abortion that further damages their already damaged bodies.” Another concern is that “when people, who share a large number of genes breed, there is a high chance they will pass on conditions known as ‘Autosomal Recessive Disorders’; conditions that they inherited through recessive genes, including cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia, and albinism.”
It is common knowledge that incest leaves the victims damaged mentally and emotionally for years to come. Victims have to deal with feelings of shame and sadness, rage and distrust. How do you trust anyone else after your own father abused your trust so deeply? These feelings of isolation, shame, and guilt, often not associated with any specific activity, help to foster a poor self-image, which may lead to suicidal behavior. There is also a tendency for victims of incest to suffer from other disorders, such as sleep disturbances, nightmares, depression, and eating disorders.
According to Paradang Gogwim, A Jos-based, Clinical Psychologist, “Children who were victims of incest grow in fear and mostly lose confidence in themselves and people in the family. They would develop trust issues with members of their immediate family, which also extend to other members of the community. He gave other psychological conditions as Post-traumatic Stress Disorders, PTSD.
On what the Nigerian laws say about incest, it captured it as ‘Prohibited degree of consanguinity’. The constitution considers incest as a crime by virtue of Section 3, subsection 1, sub-sub section b of the Matrimonial Causes Act, and section 33 of the Marriage Act forbids sexual relations and marriage among people who are related by blood.
Incestuous relationships or marriages are further prohibited in the 1st Schedule (Section 3) of the Matrimonial Causes Act, Cap 220, Law of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN) 1990, where it lists the prohibited degree of consanguinity to include that between father and daughter, mother and son, brother and sister, uncle and aunt, niece, and nephew.
Again, Section 214 (3) of the Criminal Code Act (a criminal law that is applicable in and covers all parts of Nigeria), Caption 77, and Law of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN) prescribes a minimum of 14 years imprisonment for those found guilty of incestuous liaison, which it referred to as “offense against morality”.
First published – May 15, 2021 @ 18:55 GMT
A.I
Tags: incest increasing menace of rape
