Managing sexual violence in Nigeria

By John Oshodi

 

IN reality, the Federal Ministry of Justice should have its Office of Public Prosecution fully developed with a functioning Sex Crimes Unit working closely with establishments like the Nigeria Police, Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Youth Development and other related agencies in order to ensure the successful investigation and prosecution of all sex crimes as well as protecting victims. 

 

The Sex Crimes division at the Office of Public Prosecution should be set up in a way that will enable it work with several specialised private organisations such as the NGOs, psychological service and medical providers, and other related bodies, who could offer assistance in the areas of forensic psychological examinations, victim assessment and counselling for victims.  

 

Why do we need this type of joint effort?

 

In the last few weeks and in recent months, and at a time when the country is under great tension and stressed over religious, sectarian and ethnic violence; sexual offenses and predatory sexual behaviours are occurring and rising continuously.

 

Everywhere, in the newspapers and electronic media, we read and hear of incidents like that of a police officer raping a three-year-old child, a 25-year-old man arrested for raping an 80-year-old woman. 

 

There was another showing five men raping a woman at a Nigeria university while she pleaded with her violators to kill her, two men arrested for drugging and raping a friend's daughter, an Oba charged over the rape of Youth Corps member, a 30-year-old man arrested for raping a 96-year-old woman.

 

Also two policemen and seven others arrested for robbery and gang-raping the victim’s wife while one of the robbers raped a younger sister of his wife,  a father arrested for castrating a man that raped his daughter, another father arrested for raping his 14-year-old daughter.

 

Yet another arrested for raping a 75-year-old at gunpoint, a pastor arrested for allegedly raping  a 12-year-old choir member of his church,  and many others. 

 

The Nigerian Constitution, by nature of its make-up in terms of human rights, has laws in the area of rape but these laws, although generally outdated, need to be enforced logically and in a common sense manner. 

 

Section 357 of the Criminal Code is very clear: ‘Any person who has unlawful carnal knowledge of a woman or girl, without her consent, or with her consent, if consent was obtained by force or by means of threat or intimidation of any kind, or by fear or harm, or by any means of false and fraudulent representation as to the nature of the act, or in the case of a married woman, by impersonating her husband, is guilty of an offence called rape.’ Under Section 358, the punishment for rape is life imprisonment. 

 

In our society, where females are viewed as ‘less than’, the long existing, old-fashioned rape law and the legal interpretations of rape tend to put the weight on a female to prove that her reports of being victimised are genuine. What a burden.

 

The societal outlook, which tends to view males as not really responsible for sexual misconducts even towards female minors, generally perceives victims of rape, who are mostly females, as inherently blame-worthy in terms of participating in alleged forceful carnal knowledge of her body, especially when she cannot produce a witness, or dressed sensually or being by herself. 

 

Yes, this is how it is, even though the sexual offence in most cases occurred with no living witness, as it is usually done in a hidden or private manner. And she should be a free human like everyone else.

 

Certainly, there are cases of false accusations by some females who might be in a present or previous relationship with the offender, and this is the more reason for the creation of a unit to aggressively separate authentic cases from bad ones, to assist with better legal representation for a known victim, to engage in full investigation, and learn what behavioural questions to ask an alleged sexual offender. 

 

The sex crimes unit, as a specialised felony prosecution section in the Office of Public Prosecution, could be engaged exclusively on the preparation and prosecution of severe crimes of sexual assault, sexual battery, and child sexual abuse.  

 

Within the unit there should be a victim services unit with trained staff to advocate and assist victims throughout the life and prosecution of the case, and help the victim with basic needs and protective services as well as financial assistance to victims. 

 

The role of forensic clinical and psychological testing needs to be recognised in view of the court attempting to get a better understanding of sex offense defendants. 

 

This type of evaluation could help to further determine levels of sexual offender risk, danger, competency to proceed to trial, criminal responsibility, competency restoration, and whether the offender is able to manage his violence.

 

Our laws whether in common law form or Islamic form should recognise the changing times, and as such updating our sex laws is very vital. 

 

There is need to study a more contemporary rape law in terms of levels of severity, like that of Lagos State, which could be a guide to the Federal Government and other states.

 

Our government must face the reality that sexual intercourse without consent, which occurred between the offender and the victim, requires no witness as there is usually none, it is usually carried out in a hidden or private manner, except in the case of gang-rape.

 

No matter how slight the physical force in terms of coerced penetration of the vulva or anus, with the penis, any other body part, or an object; it is still sexual assault. And even without penetration, sexually invading a female in a physical and coercive manner could amount to rape. 

 

And yes, it is time that marital rape or spousal rape be added to our laws as a non-consensual sex involving the two partners as in husband and wife, boyfriend and girlfriend, as a form of violence.

 

 The Nigerian society's attitude toward sexual misconduct as in rape and child sexual assault must reflect current times in terms of protecting females. 

 

Our common law and sharia providers like judges, magistrates, qhadis, prosecutors and defence attorneys as well as concerned NGOs and other interest groups should find better ways outside some of these outdated traditions in order to save rape victims.

 

These include our infant girls, daughters, sisters, mothers, nieces, aunts, grandmothers, godmothers, and any other female across the nation.

 

 Oshodi, Ph.D., is a forensic/clinical psychologist and the secretary-general of the Nigeria Psychological Association (NPA), Abuja, Jos5930458@aol.com