Rape: When does it end?

Rape: When does it end?

NIGERIAN women live in fear and apprehension every day of their lives. At a young age, girls are taught to cover up our seductive parts of the body and subjected to a regimented life so as not become a victim of rape but the perpetrators defied all measures known to man.

“Cover up, do not show skin or dress ‘provocatively’ so that you don’t lure the men” but the baby girl who can’t walk, the hijabi and the elderly woman who can barely stand up straight got raped too.

 Nowhere is safe. Not your home, classroom, workplace, market, church or the mosque. To visit your male friends is not safe. No time of the day is safe- not daytime, not nighttime.

 The recent cases of 22-year-old Uwa who was raped and murdered in church and 12-year-old Hijab dressed Barakat who was gang-raped, are evidential proofs that rapists are no respecter of age, dressing, place, time or day.

 No woman is safe. Hashtags after hashtags, social media campaigns after the other, protests after protests and victim after victim, all these couldn’t end rape.

We need our politicians, leaders, and lawmakers to be on our side. We need to see policies and laws against sexual harassment, rape and abuse strengthened and put into effect. The Nigeria police need to be adequately empowered in order to be able to protect and defend our people.

As long as women’s rights and freedom remain unaddressed, nothing will change. Until our justice system stands up in the defense and protection of our girls and women, Nigerian women will continue to live in fear and apprehension.