Bamidele Kolawole

Rape can be described as an act of having sex with another person without her consent. This normally happens between a man and a woman. It is a capital offence and it is unfortunate that some of these hoodlums do not know how severe offence.

The review of our laws, the current Criminal Procedure Law was last modified about four decades ago. As it stands today, the laws do not meet up with our present realities of life.

I want to suggest that stringent laws should be put in place by the government to prevent the crime.

In Nigeria, the rapist takes a maximum of eight years imprisonment. Such sentence should be increased to capital offence with longer sentence.

Apart from increasing the sentence, stiffer measures should be put in place, like castrating the rapist as obtainable in Germany, India and other jurisdictions.

The offence of rape in Nigeria is still bailable, making it a minor offence.

But the laws can declare the offence of rape non bailable and all its forms.

Since the offence of rape takes the dignity of the victim, institutions should be established to undergo anti-rape counselling. So the rapist should be kept in reformation centre for at least 15 years and be released upon a medically and psychologically certification.

There should be a sensitisation of the girl-child that nothing is shameful, but that it is a shame on the rapist and he must be punished.

The solutions to curbing the menace include; encouraging research to find facts and date to determine what approach will best curtail the menace.

Also, the society should encourage campaign against rape and also instill cultural values and norms that are against rape.

Parents too should give their children/wards early education about sex education.

We should teach our boys and men not to rape. While our legal system should not blame women for rape.

It is a capital offence and it is unfortunate that some of these hoodlums do not know how severe offence is. It is very sad and unfortunate that the issue of rape has taken a very serious dimension not only in Ondo state, but in the whole world at large.

I would simply describe rape as having canal knowledge with a child under age 16 with or without her consent or when the consent is obtained by fraud or intimidation.

The command is worried at this dangerous situation, if you ask why it is rampant, I would say one of the factors is the issue of drugs.

Once you are on drugs and you are being propelled by the effects of drugs, you can do anything by committing any havoc. Some of these things are to make someone commit any act of illegality including rape.

When they are high on drugs, they have this strong desire to have anything that is opposite no matter the age range.

Parents should know the type of person they would leave their children with. They should as well dress their wards appropriately.

The idea of dressing children half nude should be stopped by parents.

These suspects should be given life imprisonment, but today if he is a first offender, he will go for 14 years imprisonment.

Whoever is committing such terrible act should not be covered, the society as well is not happy. We are glad that some NGOs are partnering with the police today to handle this unlawful act called rape. We need more of them.

Rape cases are getting out of hands and it should be tamed urgently.

 Hardly can you see eight out of 100 cases of rape being prosecuted. Why? Because families of victims always see it as a stigma. Hence they dropped the cases in order to protect their image.

Unfortunately, things have really gone wrong nowadays. There are many people who are also desperate of having money.

For example, nowadays, you see a father having sexual intercourse with his daughter for rituals. You will hear or read stories about a 40 -year -old man raping a minor or 12 year-old-girl for ritual purposes. The full wrath of law should be applied on any perpetrator found guilty.

Government should also enforce all Child Rights’ Laws in all states and empower the law enforcement agents as well as arrest any lady found wearing provocative dress. If not, we may not be able to handle rape any more.

The mode of dressing of our children these days, particularly the girls, is alarming. Some girls are the ones tempting the men, because of their half-naked dresses they put on all about.

 Indecent dressing, I believe is one of the causes of rape. It is not every man that has control over his feelings. Once the urge comes on them, they will want to be satisfied.

I will advise parents to educate their children, both male and female. They should train them in the right way.

Rape can be described as an act of having sex with another by force. This happens between a man and a woman. It can happen between a husband and wife if the wife is not in the mood at that particular time.

But it is not common between husband and wife but among youths or an adult to a female teenager or minor.

To curb incessant rape in our society, parents must watch their children very well, especially the female ones. Never allow them to go out half naked. Parents should make sure their female children are always on a decent and moderate dresses when going out of the home.

You must protect your children everywhere, and train them in the way of God. Pray for them without ceasing, make sure they walk on the right path which you have trained them. Screen the friends your children go out with, and be sure they are the well trained ones.

Parents must be the hard working type, so there will be enough to take care of the children especially the female ones. You must do your part as parents to your children. Get them the necessary needs.

Sex education from the parents is necessary. Let your children know the merits and demerits of having sex when they grow to a certain level. Let them know how desperate some men are.

Lack of care for the children and lack of security from the parent side- are part of the causes of this unpleasant act. Parents should have time and care for the children. A good mother should always know the whereabouts of their children, mostly daughters. Parents should protect them.

The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, If you do not have the fear of God, it will be difficult to train your children in the righteous way.

Bad associations; when your child mingles with the wrong friends, she is liable to be a victim of rape while the male child can be among the rapists.

Poverty can also lead one to be a victim of rape, in the process of looking for what to eat or get money to survive.

In conclusion, mind what you do in the presence of your children. They follow you as a role model.

Rape has become one of the frequently committed criminal act, not only in Nigeria, but across the globe.

Despite attracting severe punishments, the dastardly act is still on the prowl.

In Nigeria, the rapist takes a maximum of eight years imprisonment. Such sentence should be increased to capital offence with longer sentence.

Apart from increasing the sentence, stiffer measures should be put in place, like castrating the rapist as obtainable in Germany, India and other jurisdictions.

The offence of rape in Nigeria is still bailable, making it a minor offence.

But the laws can declare the offence of rape non bailable and all its forms.

Since the offence of rape takes the dignity of the victim, institutions should be established to undergo anti-rape counselling.

So the rapist should be kept in reformation centre for at least 15 years and be released upon a medically and psychologically certification.

There should be a sensitisation of the girl-child that nothing is shameful, but that it is a shame on the rapist and he must be punished.

The solutions to curbing the menace include; encouraging research to find facts and date to determine what approach will best curtail the menace.

Also, the society should encourage campaign against rape and also instill cultural values and norms that are against rape.

Parents too should give their children/wards early education about sex education.

We should teach our boys and men not to rape. While our legal system should not blame women for rape.

We have much to do as parents with the regards to our children especially the daughters. The world is going to an end gradually, only God can curb all these tragedies. It was not like this before. That is why I earlier said parents have much to do.

If we look at the world today, this issue of rape, it’s not just rape, but it’s mostly for rituals. Everyone wants to acquire wealth by force without labour.

What I think is the best to do is for the parents to take good care of their children, to safeguard them, watch their move, their mode of dressing is part of it. And apart from dressing, train them in the way of God so that they do not follow the bad ones.

There was instance where a father makes love with his own daughter. Can that be for fun? No, but fetish. That is why we sees the body of some girls drying up. Gone are those days when you leave your kids with your neighbor but not now, if you try it then you are putting fire on the roof.

Let us try as much as possible to have time for our children. Let’s train both the male and the female children in the way of God, because the rapists are males. A well trained male child will never think of doing such to a female child. And the female as well will never walk or dress “nude” to attract men.

I would simply describe rape as having canal knowledge with a child under age 16 with or without her consent or when the consent is obtained by fraud or intimidation.

The command is worried at this dangerous situation, if you ask why it is rampant, I would say one of the factors is the issue of drugs.

Once you are on drugs and you are being propelled by the effects of drugs, you can do anything by committing any havoc. Some of these things are to make someone commit any act of illegality including rape.

When they are high on drugs, they have this strong desire to have anything that is opposite no matter the age range.Parents should know the type of person they would leave there children with. They should as well dress their wards appropriately.

The idea of dressing children half nude should be stopped by parents.

These suspects should be given life imprisonment, but today if he is a first offender, he will go for 14 years imprisonment.

Whoever is committing such terrible act should not be covered, the society as well is not happy.

This is a very important issue that needs to be addressed in our society. As for me, to curb the incessant rape in our society, we need to train our children in the way of the Lord.

Either you are a Muslim or a Christian, there’s none of these religions that is not against nude dresses.

Let us monitor our children and teach them in the righteous way of God. We should watch on the female ones the kind of clothes they put on. It is forbidden to expose your precious body to the public as a child of God.

That is why as Muslims, our female children will always cover their bodies from head to toe. And even the Christians have their normal dresses that give glory to Almighty God.

In Islam, we believe women are specially made. Without seeing their bodies, men can be intoxicated by their voices. That is the power of women. They should value themselves as they were created.

It is unfortunate today that children are being misled, while they go astray. Some parents will even buy them the half covered clothes believing they are civilized. While most parents are after money, they have limited time to watch over their children. And a child that is not given adequate home training will later bring problem to the family. Most of these rapists out there are using the female ones for money rituals, which is very common now in this end time.

The society should exhibit zero-tolerance to rapists by naming and shaming the perpetrators.

For example, a rapist might claim that the girl did not accept his proposal that is why she was raped.

I want to reiterate that anybody found guilty of raping minors, aged or any female, should face severe penalties like death, maiming or castration, so that they can know how it feels to destroy people’s lives.

For example, the Americans today migrated from Britain. They called themselves ‘Puritan,’ that wanted to purify religion.

So when they got to the present America, they met the Red Indians. And so they began to commit several criminal acts like killing the Red Indians, while they marry their women.

But later, sanity was brought into the system. So, whoever committed adultery, they would place a ‘Scarlet letter’ on the neck of such persons, so everybody in the society can identify them as culprits.

Same measure can be taken against whoever is found guilty of rape in our society.

Also, our judiciary should interpret the law to the letter. There should be no escape route for rapists. It seems the law has been too silent or lenient with the rapists.

If Sharia law is against rape, then our law should be against it.

There should not be an option of bail. Rape is an abuse of freedom. So, anybody that takes someone’s freedom away should be denied of his freedom.

However, I want to use this medium to appeal to our parents to teach their children, both boys and girls, sex education. Particularly, mothers should teach and train their girls.

Parents should teach their girls about sex education right from infancy. Parents should not be too careless with their girls.

Mothers should teach the girls how to be on the defensive, whenever any boy or man touches their breasts or buttocks (bumbum).We must teach our girls to dress properly and never be in a lonely place.