Child rape: Group wants life sentence for culprits

By Evelyn Okakwu

The Federal Government has been called upon to entrench life imprisonment, with hard labour, as punishment for rape of children.

Speaking in a programme tagged: “March against rape”, organised by a group of women in Abuja to fight sexual abuse meted against the Nigerian woman, Dr Ugochi Nnaji said there is the need for rape crisis centres to look into rape related cases in the country.

The organizer of the event, Timidi Dagha-Omolara called on Parents to be careful in order to detect when their children are being sexually abused and support them rather than compound their problems by blaming them for falling victims of such violent acts as rape by close acquaintances.

Timidi Dagha-Omolara said children often show certain signs when they are abused.

She said a lot of parents still blame their children for falling prey to rapist, when in clear case; the fault for such cruelty cannot be traced to any minor.

Also speaking at the event, Barister Ahmed abdulrahman noted that the laws in Nigeria are good enough to cater for rape related cases but lack due implantation.

“Why should a person simply be asked to pay certain amount of money after raping a girl and go free when the law clearly stipulates a given period of prison term?”

One of the participants at the rally, Habiba Abdul said she was raped at age 13 by a group of seven men on the streets of Lagos, after which she became unconscious for two weeks. She added that she was only able to recognize her environment, two weeks later when she found herself at a hospital.

She was only able to speak up seventeen years after the traumatic event.