The outrage that follows the raping
and killing of a 22 years old UNIBEN student Uwavera Omozuwa in a church in Edo State has led to a call for a state of emergency on social violence.
A Human Rights Activist Doris Njemanze made the call in an interview with our reporters in Port Harcourt on Tuesday.
She said declaration of state of emergency will ensure comprehensive investigation and prosecution of offenders to restrain the menace.
“Whence this is done, then we will see sexual violence as a crime. We will invest in it, irrespective of who the person involved is. We will build a system that can address them as human beings, to protect their dignity and help them integrate into the society better. But right now, we do not have any of those things. We have not invested enough, and a lot or this rapist are walking free by day.
Human Rights Activist Doris Njemanze also criticize the police for not being proactive in handling rape cases.
She said that police should have arrested those who took to the social media to confess to rape as hash tag ‘ justice for Uwa’ trended.
“We need the law enforcement agencies to be more proactive and not reactive. There is handful evidence, those people are traceable and they can be brought to book”
“We saw people confess to rape. Those things are actually offences that should not be overlooked. What is the government doing to sanitize and make everybody understand that all Nigerians are not Wild Animals. Even animals do not rape”, She stated.
As you may know, hashtag ” Justice for Uwa’ stirred conversation about rape in Nigeria. It quickly turned soar when confession twit by rapist emerged.
Meanwhile, some Twitter users have blame poor parenting for the rising number of rape in Nigeria.
A Gender Advocate Jennifer Ume agrees with this. She explained to our reporters that poor parenting means that many people do not have orientation about this issue.
“When parents don’t talk to children about entitlement, privileges, and their rights, it risk a child of being constantly afraid and don’t know how to survive in the society”
Beyond parental control, Jennifer Ume wants a cultural shift that will truly abolish gender roles, and fix the social conditioning that will handle rape in Nigeria.
“There shouldn’t be superiority of one gender over another. It will reduce the risk of violence. Because people tend to see each other as equals, thereby taking permission before sex. The act of sex is something that both party have to give consent to, and not for men to see it as their right” she explained.
