Tackling the Sexual abuse epidemic in Nigerian schools
The latest instalment in the unfortunate cases of teachers, lecturers and school staff sexually abusing young girls under their care has seen the perpetrator receive a six-decade jail sentence.
In a well-deserved ruling, the Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court sentenced the former Supervisor of Chrisland School, Lekki, Adegboyega Adenekan to 60 years in prison for defiling a 2-year-old pupil.
Adegboyega Adenekan
The 47-year-old man was accused of sexual abuse by the little girl who later testified against him in court, alongside her mother. Adenekan was charged with one count charge that bordered on the rape of a minor.
Handing out the sentence, Justice Sybil Nwaka said that the “defendant is conscienceless, wicked, an animal, and not fit to walk on the streets”.
This will be the second time in a space of one year that school sexual offenders will be sent to jail. Last December, the embattled OAU prof., Richard Akindele was sentenced to a minimum of 2 years in prison for soliciting sex for marks from one of his students.
Prof. Richard Akindele.
The progress of having these men face their crimes, points to an improvement in Nigeria’s justice system, where victims of sexual abuse rarely got a speedy justice in the past. But all of that is changing, gradually, not at the pace that one would want it. Case in point being the recently exposed Unilag lecturer, Dr. Boniface Igbeneghu who has refused to honour police invitation after a BBC documentary showed him sexually harassing a presumed admission seeker. He’s yet to be arrested or charged to court.
While the issue of rape and sexual abuse were swept under the carpet in the past to avoid stigma, Nigerians are beginning to open up about sexual assault and in recent times, a few of the victims are receiving justice.
But in order to put an end to the terrible act of teachers and authority figures sexually taking advantage of young people under their care, a more drastic measure has to be put in place. And a long jail term as in the case of the convicted Chrisland supervisor, Adenekan, will help in serving as deterrent to others.
