It is no longer news that the Nigerian girl-child
has suddenly become an endangered species. No thanks to the daily assault and
all forms of abuse directed against her especially rape, violence, child
labour, ignorance, disease, malnutrition, maltreatment, you name it.
The media is replete with cases of these violations
of the girl-child and women. More disheartening is that they are perpetrated by
those who supposed to protect them. One wonders what had become of the society,
a place now ruled by depravity, abomination, sacrilege and immorality.
Or how else would one describe the animalistic
behaviour of randy fathers, uncles and male adults who daily defile their own
daughters and turn them into sex slaves in their own homes?
Of all the crimes against the girl-child, rape is
among the most heinous. This is because it causes social problems such as
deaths, unplanned pregnancies and abortions, Human Immuno-Deficiency Virus (HIV)
on those affected, leaving them emotionally disrupt.
In October 2018, there was a reported case of
heart-chilling death of Elizabeth Ochanya, a 13-year-old girl, who died of
health complications after she was serially raped for five years by no less a
person than her aunt’s husband, Andrew Ogbuja, and his son, Victor Ogbuja, in
Benue State.
Andrew, said to be the Head of Department, Catering
and Hotel Management at the Benue State Polytechnic, Benue State, and his son,
Victor, then a final year student of Animal Production at the Federal
University of Agriculture, Makurdi, raped the girl to death.
Consequently, a court in Makurdi remanded Andrew in
prison and later released him, while the son Victor was at large. One would
have thought that the nationwide outrage that greeted the heinous crime and
protest championed by Civil Society Organisations demanding for justice would
have put the beasts in the country in checks. But that is not to be. The
rapists are on the rampage destroying future mothers of Nigerians and sowing
seeds of discord in society.
Only recently a University of Lagos student, Chuka
Chukwu, 19, along with four other students, was reported to have serially
gang-raped a fellow student (name withheld). The victim was allegedly lured, gang-raped,
videotaped by the suspects. The other defendants were Moboluwaji Omowole, 19,
Peace Nwankama, 19, James Aguedu, 20 and Josephine Osemeka, 20. They were
charged on four counts – the defilement of a child, permitting defilement of a
child, procurement and sexual assault.
There are other cases reported and unreported, too
numerous to mention.
Violence Against Women
In some countries like Nigeria, violence against
women and girls (VAWG) is estimated to cost them up to 3.7 percent of their GDP
– more than double what most governments spend on education.
According to a United Nations Children’s Fund,
(UNICEF) all forms of violence and harmful practices against women and girls
are of epidemic proportions in Nigeria.
