Nigeria Has 155 Cases Of Rape Monthly Aside Unreported Incidents Says, Desk Officer
Aside girls abducted by insurgents in the North East axis of Nigeria who covert the girls to sex machines, 155 rape cases are recorded in Nigeria monthly.
A legal practitioner, Mrs. explained that the figure of 166 is only for reported cases of which there could be other unreported incidents.
Ajanwachukwu who is the Desk Officer; Child Abuse and trafficking in Ebonyi state Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development disclosed this at European Union-United Nationas (EU-UN) spotlight initiative two –day media engagement dialouge on ending violence against women and girls organized by National Orientation Agency(NOA), Ebonyi state with support from the EU-UN in Enugu in collaborationwithUNICEF.
She lamented that several cases of rape in the country were never reported.
She described rape as master of violence against the girl child and women in the country and called for concerted efforts to put an end to it.
“As the figure is staggering between 140 and 155 incidents in a month, the figure on reported cases, several cases are never reported.
“Again, the figure may not have included those abducted, kept, raped and being raped by the Boko Haram in Sambisa forest”, she said.
On her part, UNICEF communication specialist, Enugu field office, Mrs. Ijeoma Onuoha-Ogwe who represented EU-UN, said sex-for-marks was very rampant in Nigerian Universities.
She lamented that female under graduates were being harassed sexually by their lecturers for refusing to yield to their demands.
She added that sex-for-marks in Nigerian universities diminishes the effectiveness of its certificates.
“Sex-for-marks diminishes effectiveness of particular certificate from a particular country. It means that the certificate is being watered down, the process of getting the certificate is being watered down, it connotes a lot of things”.
One of the resource persons at the event, Dr. Chidi Ezinwa of the Department of Mass Communication, ESUT who spoke on child right reporting abd ethical response from the media, called for review of Evidence Act which he said was outdated and giving room for rapists to escape justice.
“When we look at our laws as it is now, for instance, the Evidence Act requires colloboration. Colloboration means that there must be an evidence of another party that witnessed a rape. Does it means that rape has become a party that when you want to rape someone, you invite people to come and witness it? So, such law should be reviewed.
“When you look such law you find out that it doesn’t tend to care about the survival of the victim or the survivour, there is no protection for them. Once they are not under protection, there is no way people will feel free to go to court, people will feel free to say anything because their security is not guaranteed by the law. So, we laws that will guarantee the safety of the victim and the family members, he said
Earlier in his remark, Ebonyi state Director of NOA, Dr. Emma Abah lamented that violence against women and children was on the increase.