Child abuse, rape rise in Lagos –OPD

Hello Friends!

It is so painful that the increase in Child abuse and Rape is not just in Lagos alone but across Nigeria! We see and hear of these cases daily. On the streets, in schools and even in churches! What is going on???

The Office of the Public Defender, a department under the Lagos State Ministry of Justice, has raised the alarm over the increase in cases of child abuse and rape in the state.

The Director OPD, Mrs. Omotola Rotimi, said during a press conference in Lagos on Tuesday that between January and March this year, 39 cases of child abuse had been handled by the office while 15 cases of rape and 17 cases of defilement had also been handled.

In a bid to curb the menace, Rotimi urged parents to be more vigilant about their children.

She said, “Since inception of the OPD in July, 2000; the office has been able to resolve over 34,000 matters covering both civil and criminal cases.
“The essence of this conference is to alert parents, especially mothers on the need to be more vigilant about their children and wards. This became necessary due to increase in the number of cases of child abuse.

“Almost on a daily basis, we receive cases of defilement of children by people who sometimes are very close to their families.”

Rotimi explained that in legal terms, defilement has to do with an adult having sexual relations with a child below the age of 12 while rape has to do with an adult having sexual relations with a child between the ages of 13 and 17.

Rotimi however lamented that the OPD had been unable to secure less than 12 convictions for perpetrators of rape because of the unwillingness of victims to come forward.

She said, “Most times, after these children are raped, their parents refuse to come forward because of the social stigma.

“Sometimes even after the case has been brought before a court, the victim may refuse to appear in court or decide to drop the case.”

Rotimi maintained that child abuse was also on the increase, adding that even parents were guilty of this. She added that the OPD was partnering the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation to address the problem.

She said, “Apart from defilement, another major case we receive regularly is that of child abuse either by the parents themselves or sometimes by their supposed aunties or uncles.

“Only last month, a mother was sent to six months imprisonment for inflicting severe body injury on her own son. The boy’s offence according to her was that he always destroyed her property at home. She used razor blade to inflict marks on his body and added pepper on the wounds.”

Source: Punch Metro.
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Simply Cheska...