Panafrican News Agency

Nigeria launches national sex offenders register

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) – Nigeria's Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Monday launched the first national sexual offenders register and called for stiffer sanctions them.

He also said the country must look at the "deep, systematic dysfunction of cultures and social norms” that allow sexual violence.

The register sets up a database of those convicted for sexual violence in a move seen as an important step towards clamping down on abuse.

The “Sexual Offender Register” will contain the names of all those prosecuted for sexual violence since 2015.

The record will be available online to better help the public, state bodies and police conduct background checks and identify repeat offenders.

Suspects who are cleared will also be recorded in a part of the register only available to law enforcement agencies, amid concerns by campaigners that the majority of sexual offenders escape prosecution due to failings in the justice system.

The Sexual Offender Register is a project under the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and is funded by the European Union Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (RoLAC) and implemented by the British Council in Nigeria, in collaboration with security agencies and Civil Society Organisations.

An initial group of 15 NGOs will monitor police and media reports and update the register on a monthly basis with information on convicted persons that would be captured including bio-data, biometric features, addresses, bank verification number (BVN) and DNA.

According to the United Nations children's agency, UNICEF, one in four Nigerian women are sexually abused before they turn 18 — and the majority of cases of sexual abuse in the country are not prosecuted.

Currently, only two of Nigeria’s 36 States — Lagos and Ekiti — keep databases of those convicted of sexual offences.

The launch of the register coincided with Monday's global celebration of the International Day for Eradication of Violence against Women which flagged off a 16-day campaign calling for an end to gender-based violence.

This year’s theme, ‘Generation Equality Stands Against Rape’, calls for urgent action against rape and accountability for gender equality.

Vice President Osinbajo, who was represented by the Solicitor-General of the Federation, Mr Taiwo Apata, regretted that although times and contexts may differ, women and girls all over the world experience rape, sexual violence and abuse, in times of war but only a small percentage of these incidences get reported.

This is because when women come forward, they’re called liars and troublemakers and demeaned and backlisted.

He attributed lack of accurate data on rape cases and assaults to the recurrent perpetuation of the offence occasioned by the impunity perpetrators enjoy as a result of the stigmatization and silence of the victims.

The Vice President also called for collective and individual efforts on ending impunity by challenging demeaning references to women; opposing a culture of blaming victims; teaching boys a sense of masculinity that respects women and accepts no type of gender-based violence.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Ms Sadiyya Farouq, lamented the rise in sexual abuse cases in the terrorism-ravaged northeastern Nigeria as a result of Boko Haram insurgency, saying that the scourge needed to be attended to as a matter of urgency.

In a report published on its website in June this year, Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said violence against women had been on the increase from 2015-2017.

In the report, rape cases topped a list of violence against women and had been on a rise in Nigeria since 2015.

According to the NBS, the percentage of rape incidence for girls was 63.04 per cent in 2015, which increased to 72.13 per cent in 2016 but decreased to 69.33 per cent in 2017.

-0- PANA MON/MA 26Nov2019