Rape: Buhari’s ex-aide advocates gender desks at police stations

An former aide of President Muhammadu Buhari, Mrs Juliet Ibekaku-Nwagwu, has called for the introduction of gender desks in police stations across the country.

She said such desks would be saddled with the task of handling the rising cases of rape of girls.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN reports that Ibekaku-Nwagwu is the immediate past Special Assistant to President Buhari on Justice Reform.

She also vied to represent Enugu West Senatorial District at the National Assembly under the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the last general election.

The legal consultant made the call in an interview she granted NAN on incessant rape of minors across the country.
She noted that the cases of rape involving minors were unfortunate, adding that the police need to do more in handling the menace.

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Mrs Ibekaku-Nwagwu said: “The current situation is getting worse day by day, and this problem should be better handled by specialists on feminine matters because women are at the receiving end.

“The police should set up what we call gender desks in the various police stations across the country to prosecute and handle cases of rape.

“We do not have such desks in most of our police stations at the moment. We need people who understand that we have to prevent something from happening before it happens.”

The former presidential aide noted that other countries have what is called the National Sex Offender Registry, which provides the public access to sex offenders’ data and prevents sex offenders from touching or coming close to children.

“Unfortunately, we do not have such a registry in our country. Therefore, we need a re-assessment of our system because some of those things are happening within schools and in our homes.

“We need to understand the mind-set that leads people to commit such acts and find ways to prevent them from happening again,” she said.

Mrs Ibekaku-Nwagwu said the only way to reduce the ugly trend is to make sure that offenders are convicted and are never allowed to come close to children.

“The victims should be severely dealt with to deter other would-be perpetrators from committing the same act in future,” she said.

The former presidential aide urged parents, religious bodies and schools to constantly educate their children against embracing attitudes that would likely make them become victims of rape.

“As our children are growing up, let them know that most of the people around them are not as good as they think they are.

“There must be a way to make children understand that they should not allow themselves to be touched by elders at their age, for any reason.

“Parents and guardians should introduce sex education to their children, especially the girl-child, and let them realise that it is for their good,” she said.

The legal consultant advised children to always speak out whenever their uncles, neighbours or teachers begin to exhibit certain strange behaviours around them.

Mrs Ibekaku-Nwagwu added that she was working on some anti-corruption issues as well as looking at issues of injustice against the female gender.