The spate of rape cases and other sexual offences in the country poses concern especially as much seem not to be done in strengthening existing laws that will help in prosecuting perpetrators while victims wallow in physical, emotional and psychological trauma. In this report, NCHETACHI CHUKWUAJAH examines why the menace has persisted, the psychological and legal angles to sexual offences and the way forward towards winning the war against rape and other sexual offences in Nigeria.
Anthonia Ojenagbon was only 12 years old in 1992 when her uncle (whom she called ‘Daddy’) whose family she was living with in Lagos, defiled and deflowered her. He continued the act off and on for six years until Anthonia turned 18 and told a cleric her ordeal.
For Ese Ayabene, her journey through sexual molestation began with her home lesson teacher who taught her and her siblings French for four years. He would often stretch his hand under the table to touch her laps and genitals as a primary school pupil. Ese’s sexual molestation journey culminated in a rape incident at 17 by a 23 year-old male friend. She was again raped at 24 by another friend who she had gone to for consolation when she lost her dad.
Though these incidents happened many years ago, these women say they still suffer the impact of those acts of rape and sexual molestation against their innocence.
“That incident destroyed my life. I was admitted to a psychiatrist hospital because I had mental issues. I suffered depression for years; I am on antidepressants as I speak. My daughter is 15 and I’ve been hypertensive for that long. I take blood pressure medication daily,” Anthonia said in a newspaper interview. As a result, I’ve had issues. I used to have nightmares of being raped.
“I entered a new phase in my life, where I went into series of relationships. It wasn’t like a man-a-day kind of thing and I was not sleeping with men for money – I always felt I was worth more than that. I was like, instead of men forcing me, let me take charge, take liberty and enjoy it,” said Ese in the same interview.
Anthonia and Ese are a reflection of the fate of many people in Nigeria. They are among the one in every four Nigerian girls and one in every 10 Nigerian boys that the United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says are sexually assaulted before they clock 18 years.
Despite the existence of a number of laws in Nigeria promulgated to promote the dignity and sexual rights of her citizens, many Nigerian women, boys and girls go through one form of sexual molestation or the other daily.
What the data say about rape in Nigeria
Amnesty International, in a November 2021 report, said that 11,200 cases of rape, including cases of children raped to death, were reported in Nigeria between March 2020 and August 2021.
In a 2020 research carried out by The Conversation, 331 cases of rape were analysed over a period of five years. From the analysis, majority of the rape cases reported were females. “We found that over 90 per cent of reported rape victims were females. And 99 per cent of the rapists were male. A third of the female victims were aged between one and 10; those between 11 and 20 years constituted 46.1 per cent of the victims and victims aged 21-30 made up 8.4 per cent.
“We also found that rapists were mainly people that victims knew, such as fathers, neighbours, clergymen and relatives. Very few were total strangers. Age was also a factor in the profile of perpetrators. Young men aged between 18 and 35 years constituted 43.5 per cent of the rapists. Those between 36 and 55 years constituted 30.2 per cent of the offenders,” The Conversation noted.
Based on data obtained from the Nigeria Police and the Ministry of Justice, the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in a 2018 statistical report on women and men in Nigeria, stated that the rape incidence in the country in 2015 stood at 2,143 with 1,351 victims being females and 792 being males (63.04 per cent difference). In 2016, 2,404 cases were recorded, 1,734 were against females while 670 were against males (showing a 72.13 per cent difference). In 2017, the statistics showed 1,053 cases with 730 being females and 323 being males (69.33 per cent difference).
The report also revealed that majority of rape and other sexual offences took place at home with a total of 3,095 cases recorded in 2015, 2016 and 2017 (1,195, 1,362 and 538, respectively). 1,202 cases occurred in school (561, 445 and 196, respectively) while other places accounted for 1,303 cases at 387, 597 and 319 in 2015, 2016 and 2017, respectively.
In 2017, NBS published 2,279 cases of rape and indecent assault as recorded by the police.
Are there enough rape convictions?
Despite the existence of punitive laws that aim at stemming the tide of sexual abuses and assaults in the country, only few rape convictions have been secured.
According to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), 32 rape convictions were secured between 2019 and 2020. This is even as over 700 cases of sexual assaults were reported between January and May, 2020, during the thick of the COVID-19-induced nationwide lockdown.
The Nigeria Correctional Service reported that in 2013, 5,797 Nigerians were admitted for sex offences, 4,436 in 2014 and 1,621 by the second quarter of 2015.
Clogs in the wheel
One of the major challenges in the fight to end the perpetuation of rape and sexual abuses is stigmatisation. In Nigeria, victims of rape and other sexual abuses are almost always shamed into silence, called names and blamed as the cause of the abuse. “Survivors and their families are often pressured into withdrawing their cases and accepting a financial settlement to preserve so-called family respect rather than go through a protracted public investigation or trial,” said Foreign Policy.
According to Florence Erondu, a one-time executive member of the Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) in Abia State, “Cultural orientation results in incidents not being reported due to societal stigma to rape and sexual assault victims. Parents go to extreme lengths to protect the public image of their daughters especially as regards rape. Consequently, many cases of rape are never reported because parents want to save the honour of their daughters and protect their family from embarrassment.”
For rape to be proven within the context of the Nigerian law, there must be proof of penetration according to Section 135 (3) of the Evidence Act. In her speech at the National Association of Women Journalists, Oyo State chapter’s event to commemorate the 2021 International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, held in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, the Commissioner of Police, Oyo State, Ngozi Onadeko, said that the proof of rape could be dicey as most victims do not remember to obtain and secure evidence of penetration or other proofs of rape.
The issue of non-domestication and implementation of enacted laws against rape is another challenge. For instance, only 18 out of 36 states and the FCT in Nigeria have domesticated the VAPP law. Also, the Child Rights Law is yet to be domesticated by many states leaving room for many children’s sexual rights to be violated.
“Notwithstanding expanding the legal scope of the definition of rape, the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act and other laws have limited jurisdiction. Even in states where the Act and other laws have been domesticated, there has been no enforcement or implementation,” said Osai Ojigho, Director, Amnesty International, Nigeria.
What are law enforcement agencies doing?
Law enforcement agencies, especially the police, have been blamed for being complicit in the low conviction rate of perpetrators of sexual violence.
In this regard, Ojigho said, “Not only are women and girls being raped in Nigeria, but when they are brave enough to come forward they are being dismissed by police officers as liars and attention-seekers – slurs which inflict further injury. The police have also advised survivors and perpetrators to settle cases outside the scope of the criminal justice system, which only perpetuates violations of women’s human rights and impunity for rape,” Ojigho said.
However, the Commissioner of Police, Oyo State, Ngozi Onadeko, said the narrative is changing, especially as the Gender Unit of the NPF is better poised to handle issues of sexual and gender-based violence.
“When a woman shares her story of violence, she takes the first step to break the cycle of abuse. It is on all of us to give her the safe space she needs to speak up and be heard. It is important to remember that when discussing cases of sexual violence, the victim’s sobriety, cloths and sexuality are irrelevant. The perpetrator is the sole reason for assault and must bear the responsibility alone.
“Freely given, enthusiastic consent is mandatory every time. Rather than listening for a ‘no’, make sure there is an active ‘yes’ from all involved. Phrases like ‘she was asking for it’ or ‘boys will be boys’ attempt to blur the lines around sexual consent, placing blames on victims and excusing perpetrators from the crimes they have committed. While those that use these lines may have frizzy understanding of consent, the definition is crystal clear. When it comes to consent, there are no blurred lines,” Onadeko said.
The Executive Secretary, Oyo State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr. Muideen Olatunji, who was represented at the NAWOJ event, said, “We may also like to mainstream GBV into Police Training Colleges. At Police College, let’s find a way of making it a subject that they would learn and pass out with, so that when they are coming to the society and encounter such, they already know what to do.”
Will prosecution and conviction of perpetrators bring closure for victims?
“I understand that the law should be in favour of the victim, but there is a difference between justice and revenge. No matter what you do to the molester, it will never equate with the level of pain. I’ve been going through the pain for years, what are you going to do to a perpetrator that will equate with that?
“I can’t really capture the pain but there are days my skin literally crawls and I feel like peeling it off my body. There are days I felt my life could have been better if I was a man, and there are days I just want to end it all,” said Ese.
“I’m not in support of death sentence or castration. There is already a 14-year jail term; I think Lagos has even gone further to legislate life jail.
“So, I think all that is needed is conviction, to send a strong message. If you convict somebody and others see it – I am not talking of a two-year slap-on-the-wrist sentence like we sometimes hear– things would change. You don’t want to throw away everything you’ve worked for and go to jail all because of ten-minutes of un-consented sex,” said Anthonia.
For Hilda Ehidiamen, a women and single mothers’ rights activist, prosecution and conviction may not bring closure to victims of sexual violence but will serve as a deterrent to others and strengthen the trust reposed in the criminal justice system.
What should be done?
Stakeholders believe it is not enough to banter words around legislation or enactment of laws against sexual crimes. Strengthening of legal provisions of existing laws which prohibit sexual rights violation will go a long way in Nigeria’s war against rape and other sexual offences.
“Some of these laws have been domesticated in several states in Nigeria, the challenge remains implementation. Until Nigeria takes implementation of its laws seriously, we will still be running in a circle,” said Okafor.
Martin Ladu, an Umuahia-based legal practitioner, advocates that a timeline be given for commencing and concluding cases of rape and sexual offences and not be allowed to linger infinitely.
For Erondu, the process of proving rape should be made more lenient. “Medical reports admissible for prosecution of rape cases in courts should not be limited to those obtained from government-owned hospitals rather all recognised and licensed hospitals in the country with requisite facilities should be allowed to give medical reports to rape survivors to ease the challenges or barriers that may be associated with obtaining medical reports.”
Ladu opined that victims of rape and sexual offences would be able to speak up if closed trials for such cases are adopted to avoid stigmatisation.
“We can equally create a kind of private court that will hear rape cases; in the sense that the trial should not be done in public but in respect to only the lawyer defending the case, the lawyer prosecuting the case, the victim, the perpetrator and if possible any representative of both families. In fact, other lawyers should be denied having access,” he said.
Erondu corroborates Ladu’s position on this by saying, “the absence of witness protection programmes and giving of evidence in open court prevent victims from starting and concluding cases.”
Ehidiamen, on her part, said, “We have to start very early, as early as three years, when our children can identify parts of their bodies. Let them know the real names of the private parts. Let your girls in particular know the limit they can go with any male person. Also let your children, both sexes, know that they can come to talk to you about anything. When you are bathing them or talking to them, touch the parts and say ‘If uncle or aunty touches these parts, let me know’. We should also teach our children not to sexually abuse anybody.”
Another measure that stakeholders believe will go a long way in stemming the tide of rape and other sexual offences is through adapting of the sexual offenders’ register by all states of the federation. Sadly, only Lagos, Ekiti and Ogun states have adopted this measure. Nigeria’s sexual offenders register is a database that contains the names of those prosecuted for sexual violence since 2015.
Dr Olatunji said Primary Health Centres in Oyo State are adopting a measure that will ensure rape victims do not get infected with Sexually Transmitted Diseases/Infections from the act.
“We have to train health workers on the basic management. When someone is violated, particularly sexually assaulted, either a boy or a girl, a lot of things go to it; there is also transmission of disease – HIV, hepatitis, syphilis – are transmitted at the same time. The primary healthcare board is developing a protocol that will guide the treatment plan and make sure the victim is protected from all these diseases and be able to heal and come out of it.
“But one point that does not go so fast is the psychological trauma, the panic attacks that the person will be having; this is where we will need social workers and clinical psychologists to help us out,” Dr Olatunji said.
According to Foreign Policy, “The government-Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT) has handled more than 6,000 incidents since it opened in 2016. Lagos State government opened Nigeria’s first state-owned DNA forensics lab in 2017 and launched a sex offender registry in November 2019. It is now compulsory for witnesses to report sexual violence to the police.”
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