Fayemi Seeks National Response on Rape, Rallies Governors

Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti

Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and Ekiti State governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has rallied behind the campaign against sexual abuse and sought a declaration by the governors against the menace. Fayemi said there should be a national response to rape, stressing that it is a more serious issue than the current coronavirus pandemic ravaging the world.

The governor spoke on Friday in Ado Ekiti while signing into law the compulsory treatment and care for child victims of sexual violence bill. The bill meant to strengthen the Gender Based Violence Prohibition Law, 2012, had earlier been passed by the House of Assembly. Its enactment was against the backdrop of a rising incidence of rape in the country.

Fayemi sought partnership with the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, and the Minister of Women Affairs, Paulin Tallen, for a coordinated response to rape and other sexual crimes. He said Nigeria might experience a second wave of COVID-19 infections if necessary precautions were not taken.

The governor said COVID-19 could be transmitted through sex, given the spate of rape cases in the country.

According to him, “I have no epidemiological proof that it can be transmitted through sex. However, since it can be passed on through other body contacts, to that extent, it can be linked.

“Rape is a more serious pandemic than COVID-19. The Minister of Women Affairs and Inspector General of police are to address governors on Wednesday at the meeting of the governors’ forum. They are to work with us on this issue and tell us what they have been doing. It has to be a national response. Rape is not a simple issue again.”

The governor disclosed that Ekiti was the first state in the country to open a sexual offenders’ register and enact a domestic violence law in a bid to name and shame offenders. “But it has still not stopped,” hence the need for a national response to the situation, he stated.