By Sakina Umar Usman
Sexual violence is any sexual act or attempt to obtain a sexual act by violence or coercion, acts to traffic a person or acts directed against a person’s sexuality, regardless of the relationship to the victim.
Despite the widespread outcry over the rising cases of rape in Bauchi state there seems to be no end to the nemesis.
There is no day without a reported case of sexual violence especially rape in the media.
One contestable reason for the apparent rise of sexual violence in the state could be that sexual violence victims are becoming more encouraged to report such crimes.
However, it could also be that there is an increase in the rate of sexual violence in Bauchi state and the neighbouring states.
The recent sexual violation of young girls between ages of 6 to 12 years have fanned the embers of the growing awareness and condemnation of sexual violence in the the society.
The incident, there have been many other reported cases of violation of women and girls, and even more worrisome is the sexual violation of little girls in the whole country.
While lunching the Sex Offenders Register as part of the government’s strategy to deal with the issue of rape in the country in December 2019, Mrs Pauline Tallen, Nigeria’s Minister for Women Affairs and Social Development claimed that about two million Nigerians (mainly women and girls) are raped every year.
Recently, the Bauchi state police command has confirmed that in the state between 2020 and 2021 about 148 rape cases were reported.
Another NGO – Attah Sisters Helping Hands Foundation ASHHF in Bauchi state said it has recorded 43 rape cases within the period under review.
While we bemoan over women and girls whose violations occur within the purview of law and order, one wonders the magnitude of rape and other forms of sexual abuses which occur in our various conflict zones.
Here, women and girls are easily captured and turned into sex slaves and violated at will. owing to inadequate access to basic needs, traditional protection structures, or security fears at internally displaced persons’ camps, some women and girls have reportedly become vulnerable to sexual exploitation in the form of rape and survival sex.
Inconclusion with the current campaigns against rape and other forms of sexual abuse in the country, the state needs to rise to the occasion and deal with it.
Apart from the creation of Sex offenders Registers, which even though commendable but is technically deficient without a database containing information of every citizen and a national criminal record system.
Secondly, the handling of reported cases by the police in some situations have discouraged many victims of rape from coming forward.
There is a need for such cases if charged to court to be given a quick hearing, thereby restoring confidence in the mind of victims.
If rapists are caught, tried and jailed in time, it can serve as a form of deterrence to future offenders.
Shakira Umar Usman writes from Mass Communication Department of Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic Bauchi.
