Taming the Rape Scourge in Nigeria: Issues and Actions

Gender-based violence, including rape, domestic violence and other sexual abuses, has assumed serious dimensions globally. In Nigeria, incidences of rape are fast assuming a threatening dimension that requires urgent intervention. Rape, like other forms of violence against women, is an infringement on women’s rights, privacy, self-preservation and dignity. Available data in the print and electronic media reveal that rape issue has become a serious social problem of epidemic proportion and no longer an isolated criminal act affecting just a few women in the society. Thus, sexual assaults and their debilitating consequences for the victim, particularly under aged children, adolescents, young women and the elderly, have become serious societal issues in recent times. This paper interrogates the dynamics, institutional, socioeconomic and cultural factors accentuating cases of rape on both the victims and the perpetrators of this heinous criminal act. The paper concludes with recommendations on ways and means of tackling this social menace.