FIDA wants rapists Castrated

The International Federation of Women Lawyers, (FIDA) has called on the Federal Government especially the Legislature to promulgate law that will provide for the  of rapists as minimum punishment.

Chairperson of FIDA, Niger state chapter, Magistrate Suleiman Takuma, made this call at a sensitization and mobilisation workshop on establishing sustainable child rights clubs in schools organised by Children Rights Advocacy Guild of Nigeria (CRAGON) over the weekend in Minna.

She insisted that life imprisonment as proposed in some quarters was not enough for the heinous crime. “Castration of men involved in rape cases was necessary in view of the fact that most of the minors being raped were below the ages of one to five years whose womb are permanently destroyed in the heinous crime”, she said.

The Magistrate added that there was need to step up punishment in rape related cases in order to curb increasing cases of rape in the country.

According to her “situations whereby men of about 50 to 60 years of age would rape girls of within 9 months or 5 years is totally unacceptable and therefore requires drastic laws to check such ugly acts.

“FIDA has began discussions with the Niger state House of Assembly on the issue. We have visited the Speaker of the Assembly for the purpose of putting in place this law and he has advised us to sensitize the people on such law in an address.

The guest speaker of the event, Mustapha Yunisa listed Suleja and Kontagora to top the list of towns with highest cases of child rights violation in Niger state.

He commended the Niger state government for domesticating the Child Rights Act in the state while regretting that religious and cultural practices have however continued to hinder the operation of the Act in the state.

He said that over 90 rape cases were recorded in Suleija within 2007 and 2009 before the domestication of the Child Rights Act in 2010 in Niger state.

In his remark, the Chief Executive of Child Rights Advocacy Guild of Nigeria (CRAGON) Professor Ibrahim Kolo called on government at all levels to be pro- active in protecting the rights of children in the country.

He stressed the need for the Niger state government to be more proactive in enforcing the Child Rights Act in the state.