Reps mull death penalty for rapists

By Christiana Ekpa

The House of Representatives Committee on Women In Parliament, yesterday said it is pushing for a law to provide death penalty for rapists in the country.
The Committee equally wants the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to create a special Anti-Rape Unit to clampdown on rapists.
The Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Taiwo Oluga (APC-Osun), disclosed this, while briefing newsmen at the National Assembly on a “Women Week” Conference, coming up on November 24th.
“We (the Committee) are even proposing that the penalty for rape–by the time we finish with the motion and the Bill, it will be difficult for any man to go into rape, because it is very sad the way it is going; infact I would like that death should be the penalty of any man that tries to rape”, she said.
She further revealed that her Committee, was partnering with the NSCDC to establish an Anti-Rape Unit in the security agency, to curb the crime of rapes in the Country.
“The rate at which our girls are being ridiculed; molested, is saddening. Since I came on board, I have made some steps, which I will like you to know. For example, i have been able to speak to the Commandant of Nigerian Civil Defence Corps, that i want him to work with our office; Women In Parliament, that we would like them to create a unit for us, and what will that unit be? It will be called Anti-Rape Unit. I want him to create a special unit for us, called Anti-Rape Unit”, she stressed.
The lawmaker also decried, what she regarded the dismal 2020 budget allocation to the Ministry of Women Affairs.
Though she acknowledged efforts of the government towards the uplift of the gender, she demanded that more attention be paid to the well-being of womenfolk.
She called on the relevant Committees of the National Assembly, to improve on the allocation for women in 2020.
The legislator also informed that efforts were underway by women groups to push for more women in State and Federal Parliaments in the next dispensation.