9. Human Rights and Sexual Abuse of the Girl-Child in Nigeria: Implications for Development

The prevalence of sexual abuse of the girl-child in Nigeria in recent times has made it a subject of discourse and headlines in many newspapers. Despite the declaration in Nigeria’s Sexual Offences Act that it is an offence to attempt intercourse with a child below eighteen years of age, the rising rate of the destructive offence right across the country is alarming. The question is: what are the reasons for the rising rate of sexual abuse of the girl-child in Nigeria? What is the nature and what are the implications of the abuse? This study, using secondary sources, analytically investigates sexual abuse of the girl-child in Nigeria, including the nature, scope, causes, and consequences of such a disheartening practice that has become rampant in Nigeria. The data gathered are descriptively analysed. The study identifies poverty, hawking, lack of values or parental control, pornographic pictures and the abuse of social media as culpable. Other causes include the get-rich-quick syndrome, unemployment, bad governance, and weak enforcement of law and culture. Sexual abuse of the girl-child is perpetrated by the rich and the poor, teachers and coaches, religious leaders and laymen, educated and illiterate people, and more especially by family members and neighbours. The study further argues that the attendant socio-economic effects of girl-child abuse in Nigeria include backwardness, cheating, rape, abortion, unwanted pregnancy, broken homes, single parenting, health hazards, population growth, an increase in unemployment, and underdevelopment. To curb the act, the study recommends realistic and effective government policies, the provision of jobs, a strong security base, intervention by community and religious leaders, and penalties for offenders.