Senate to investigate increase in rape and sexual assault

The Senate on Tuesday passed a motion to investigate the increase in rape and sexual assault across the country.

The motion titled: “Urgent need to investigate the alarming rate of Rape and Sexual Assault against Women, Children and Vulnerable people across the country” was sponsored by Deputy Majority Leader, Bala Ibn Na’Allah (APC, Kebbi State).

Na’Allah in his lead debate called for urgent attention to the “frightening increase in cases of sexual violence, notably rape where more than half of the victims are minors below the age of consent.”

He noted that in most cases, the perpetrators are individuals familiar to the victims and include neighbors, employers and family members adding that the motion in meant to express Senate’s concern that the activities of certain sexual predators represent a serious security threat to vulnerable segments of society.

He stated that rape and sexual assault figures reveal that these crimes ignore gender as both males and females are victims. “What is worse, many perpetrators are never brought to justice due to poor rates of prosecution and convictions,” he added.

The Senate in its resolutions urged the Inspector General of Police to investigate and prosecute violent sexual abuse to the fullest extent of the law and mandated the relevant Senate Committees to exercise their legislative and oversight function to seek solutions that would drastically reduce the incidents of rape and sexual assault.

The upper legislative chamber further urged the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and other security agencies to establish functional help desks to provide increased support for victims.

It further urged judges and magistrates to revisit court sentencing policies on violent sexual offences to reflect the very serious nature of the crimes.

OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja