Rape victims seek speedy passage of sexual offences bill

Female Federal lawmakers fought back tears on Thursday as they listened to the painful stories of rape victims who besieged the National Assembly to share their agonizing experiences in the hands of rapists.

The victims, mostly young ladies were in the legislative arm of government to sensitize members of the Senate and House of Representatives on the need to save them from further assault by passing the bill against sexual offences.

The ladies participated at the mock tribunal/court on sexual and gender based violence organised by the National Assembly Women Affairs Committee and the Legislative Advocacy Coalition for Violence in Nigeria.

Most of them recalled with nostalgic pains, how they were sexually assaulted by older men while efforts made by them to seek redress legally had been frustrated due to weak laws against such crime.

The victims, who spoke with their faces covered, passionately appealed to female lawmakers in the meeting to save other ladies either of their ages or much younger than them.

The duo of Senators Chris Anyanwu and Oluremi Tinubu,  who spoke at the occasion, condemned the criminal act which they described as the most wicked crime against the womenfolk.

They vowed to do everything within their powers  to ensure that relevant bills that seek to protect women and children against violence, are passed before the end of the current legislative year.

The Founding Director, Women Aid Collective, Dr. Joy Ezeilo, said the purpose of staging the mock tribunal/court, at the National Assembly, was to spotlight cases of gender based violence in Nigeria.

Ezeilo also explained that organisers also wanted to use the event to raise the voices of victims and survivors towards eliciting urgent action in enacting protective laws, especially the one that had made significant progress in both chambers of the National Assembly.

She said, “Sexual and gender based violence unarguably affects women disproportionately. Women and girls experience sexual violence in their homes,  communities,  schools, workplaces,  streets, markets, police stations and hospitals.

“The national survey on torture in Nigeria carried out by Women’s Aid Collective indicated that rape and sexual abuse are forms of torture mostly experienced by women.”

She added that the survey put the rate at which women are raped and sexually abused at  64.4 percent which according to her presented a high risk to women development.

“In addition to serious psychological effects,  sexual violence creates heightened vulnerability to unintended pregnancy, and life threatening sexually transmitted diseases” , She added.