By Osaigbovo Iguobaro
Two (2) convictions in Two Hundred (200) reported rape cases were documented in Edo first quarter of 2025, says a report into record-low conviction rates — verified by Eseosa Onebamoi, Gender Desk officer in the State Ministry of Women Affairs and Gender Development.
The data acknowledged that vulnerable children between ages 0 and 10 years whose once bright future have been clouded with uncertainty, topped the chart.
This challenge requires long term measures that protect the vulnerable neighbourhood from sexual predators aided by conspiracy theorists and unskilled Traditional Birth Attendants that encourage Female Genital Mutilation champions, a behaviour aided by age-long traditional and cultural beliefs.
The debates at a seminar, provoke reflections and call for government’s attention and those of other stakeholders to conscience.
The occasion was a one-day sensitization/programme held on Thursday August 21st 2025 in Benin City.
The government official who shared insight behind the data, capitalizing on poor management of evidence by rape victims who try to blot out the trauma and their guardians, stated that the findings are deeply concerning menace at investigation and prosecution stages.
Hence the UNICEF backed collaboration with the Edo State government and Women’s Rights and Health Project, challenged advocates of SGBV particularly Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) to improve access to justice without delay for survivors of SGBV.
The measure, according to the Resource Person, is targeted to uncover unsettling details that sharpen the skills of stakeholders and measured gains, prospects and challenges faced by stakeholders.
Stakeholders insisted that awareness creation aimed at addressing court delays, low conviction rates and fears over the trauma of reliving sensitive details of crimes during SGBV prosecutions in court.
Police personnel and medical professionals, social workers and National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) officials also highlighted some reasons why most rape victims struggling to recover from their traumatic past, sometimes drop out of the Justice system with some close to breaking points of the accused conviction in court.
In her presentation titled: “Survival Centric Approach”, Gender Desk officer said, “It is a concern to us — the Government. There ought to be a balance between convictions and reported cases of GBV”.
She said, “There is need for Guardians of rape victims and survivors not to wash away after rape and FGM incidents. This matters a lot during prosecutions, Onebamoi said while canvassing the need for training of stakeholders to become better and skillful in handling GBV”.
The government official recommended the setting up of specialized courts dedicated only to handling Sexual and Gender-based Violence (SGBV) and other related offences to fast track access to the dispensation of justice to survivors in Edo State.
The goal to stretch the balance between the number of convictions vis-a-vis the reported GBV cases by harmonizing rules, and the need for confidentiality of survivors.
She also explained that safeguarding the survivors identities in order not to re-traumatize them by ensuring that they are well protected irrespective of gender, ethnic and social statuses in addition to allowing them to be part of decision-making in the patently unlawful act.
In addition, she further recommended strengthening of the implementation framework on SGBV that engenders accountability, confidentiality, awareness creation/advocacy as enablers that could raise the bar of combinations and deter FGM, SGBV and other related offenders with commensurate punishments.
But the Vice Chairman, Nigeria Bar Association, Benin Branch, Itohan Ekana, spoke to Issues of insufficient evidences in most cases of SGBV and other ancillary cases in Nigeria’s courtrooms that often lead to unnecessary adjournments, but punctured Onebamoi submission that convictions of FGM/SGBV perpetrators could end the menace.
She insisted that “incomplete files and piece of evidence alongside other anomalies on the part of victim’s Guardians most times delay speedy prosecution in court”, just as she for the maintenance of safety standards.
For advocacy against social vices to sail through, Ekana argued that Section 35 of Nigeria’s Constitution says, everybody is innocent until the person is proven guilty, noting that “convictions of offenders can deter crime, but it can not stop SGBV and other component crimes”.
She recommended intentional approach towards advocacy and awareness creation at the grassroots on SGBV using the legal framework in changing the narratives to connect the dot by aligning with the principles of international best practices.
“Are there facilities for rehabilitation of vulnerable children in Edo State? Are they habitable when available? We should sensitize our children properly. If a parent is not prepared for parenting, take the children from him/her”, The legal practitioner quipped, in response to high incidences of child abandonment in Edo.
A State Counsel in the State Ministry of Justice lamented that “rape cases are now the most difficult cases to handle largely due to lack of contact details of victims who are mostly minors” and other essential components that are required for prosecution.
“The first time I received a a case file, there was already an affidavit for withdrawal of the case.
‘When you call some relatives of SGBV victims, they will even say to you “madam, what is your business. I said I am no longer interested. You can go and die!”, but she insisted that ignorance is not excuse.
The official agreed not less with the idea of shared knowledge about SGBV, but insisted that passion-driven approach is required to stay the course of justice for victims of FGM and other component crimes when evidences are not compromised.
Earlier in his presentation, Edo State Coordinator, Child Protection Network, Nosakhare Erhunmwunse, stated that FGM and other component offences, which are legal issues, should not be settled at the police stations.
Despite the challenges associated with the menace, he said the State is winning the war against sexual predators, revealing plans by the government to set up special courts where SGBV and other related crimes would be handled expeditiously.
He posited that most cases where convictions ought to have been recorded were trivialized by Guardians of victims of SGBV without taking into account associated sufferings by victims and brunt they bear when they don’t get justice.
“A girl who was a victim of FGM told me that my body leaks. I do not want to marry because of my health condition. If he (my man) gets to discover it, he may divorce me. I can’t cope with that!’, said Erhunmwunse.
He said, “if you know what is right, do it. Go against Female Genital Mutilation. It will go a long way in settling some of the anomalies wlhen clitoris is cut off all the external genitalia us sewed up leaving only a tiny opening for menstruation.
“What happens during childbirth. Have you asked yourself why some women do not enjoy sex?”, he queried.
Programme Manager of Women’s Rights and Health Project (WRAHP), Helen Jonah also dovetailed into the essence of the laws and policies that should be advocated to eradicate FGM practices.
She admitted that Edo is the first State in Nigeria that implemented the law against Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) before the Nigerian government made the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) law in 1999, however, the practice still exist in some parts of the State.
“As frontline advocates of none violence against Persons, particularly Women and Girls’ , WRAHP in collaboration with UNICEF, and other stakeholders, is interrogating why the FGM culture persists”.
The WRAHP official stated that the Organization has taken campaign against FGM across Igueben, Ovia South West, Oredo and Egor Local Government Areas of the State in addition to the setting up FGM clubs in schools and engagement of communities heads across the various areas mentioned inter alia.
What seems to be more troubling as actors in the space, the State government official are:
Solution beckons if the justice system is structured and reformed properly to address the growing SGBV number and other integral offences as an outcome of value-driven orientation in Nigeria.
