By Adewale Kupoluyi
What has become a serious source
of worry to many Nigerians is the dehumanising, wicked and heartless cases of
rape of minors, girls, ladies and women in the country. Hardly any day passes
by without cases of sexual molestation, violence and crime. Rape, the forceful
canal knowledge usually of a female, is a serious calamity that can befall any
female. Why is there an upsurge in rape cases in the nation?
A gory statistics, according to the Nigeria Police Force, shows
that the nation recorded 1,827 rape cases in 2015; 1,959 cases in 2014; and 1,788
in 2013.
Furthermore, NOIPolls, country-specific polling services in the West African
region, done in partnership with Gallup, United States of America, revealed
that four in 10; that is 36 per cent of adult Nigerians, claimed that most
often, the alleged offenders involved in child rape were close family relatives
and neighbours; amounting to 33 per cent, as almost half; amounting to 49 per
cent of those that personally know a victim alleged that they were usually
children between seven and 12 years old; while 78 per cent of the respondents
alleged that rape cases were reported without any deliberate effort being made
by the police to investigate and prosecute the culprits.
