By Sr. Mary-Ann Ijeoma Okoye, SNDdeN

Africa Faith & Justice Network Nigeria, Enugu Chapter Activity

In Nigeria as in other parts of the world, cases of violence and sexual assaults have been on the increase following the global lock-down due to the coronavirus pandemic. The country has seen sexual assault coming to the fore at different levels of the society and several cases of rapes have been reported to the police with the most recent which got a lot of media attention being the case of a young 23 years old girl, Omozuwa, who died after she was beaten and allegedly raped on the May 13, 2020 in Benin City. Speaking to the Agence France Presse in the capital Abuja on June 16, 2020 Nigeria Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu reported that from January-May 2020 about 717 rape incidents were reported across the country and 799 suspects have been arrested.

Rape, according to Wikipedia definition, is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without that person’s consent.

According to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, “Sexual violence against women and girls is rooted in centuries of male domination. Let us not forget tat the gender inequalities that fuel rape culture are essentially a question of power imbalances”

It is in recognition of the deep breech of human right and human dignity, the UN marked 25^th November as an International Day for the Elimination of Violence against women.

The global estimate is that about 35 percent of women worldwide have experience some form of sexual assault arising either from sexual intimate partner or from non-partner

Africa Faith and Justice Network Nigeria (AFJNN), a faith-based community of advocates for responsible U.S. relations with Africa, with the mission of peace-building and promotion of human rights having earlier facilitated an advocacy workshop to empower women to speak out against all forms of violence, especially at meted to women and children in Enugu State. AFJNN continues with determination to address issues of violence in the state through media awareness campaign. On July 16, 2020 the organization sponsored a radio program on Coal City FM 92.9 to bring the voice of women and youth in addressing the domestic violence and its impact on the individuals and society at large. On domestic violence, bringing the voice of a youth in addressing this issue, another radio program was held on the July 23, 2020 on the issue of rape, causes and effects on the victims and society.

 The presenters for the live radio program, which was carried out in Coal City Fm 92.9, was Uche Eze while Barr. Amaka Ilodigwe, Sr. Mary-Ann Ijeoma Okoye (SNDdeN) and Barr. Chisomebi Ilodigwe. The discussion on the topic extended to preventive measures against rape, appeal to parents for greater parental vigilance and care for the growing children, who sometimes are even sexually violated at the home-front, and the barristers utilized the opportunity to make an appeal to the legislative arm of the government to put measures in place that would hasten the legal process of obtaining justice for the victims of sexual assault in the country. People called in from different parts of Enugu State and beyond to ask their questions or make contributions to the program which lasted for only 30 minutes. But given the enormity of issues surrounding Rape, many aspects were yet to be touched and many calls were also not attended to due to the time constraint.

However, the radio program was very helpful and well commended by many. People were encouraged to speak out, to seek for help and were more enlightened on their rights and existing laws pertaining to Rape and sexual violations in the country.

It is hoped that, AFJNN Enugu Chapter would work more in partnership with other Non-Governmental Organisations FBOs, CBOs and NGOs to form a formidable network that could sponsor the continuation of this radio program which will have far reaching positive impacts on creating awareness on the issues of Violence against women and children as an integral part of human rights and social justice in the State and beyond.