From: Agaju Madugba, Katsina
The Katsina State Government, in collaboration with a coalition of civil society groups campaigning for the domestication of the Child Rights Act, has proposed death sentence for any person confirmed by a competent court of law to have raped or sexually abused a child.
Apparently worried by increasing incidences of defilement of baby-girls and sodomy in parts of the state, the coalition, in the final draft of the document renamed “Katsina State Child Protection Bill,” defined a child as any male or female who is nine years or below, for the purpose of the proposed law.
Some of the agencies of government involved in the project included the ministries of Women Affairs, Justice and Information, along with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Save the Children International, the National Human Rights Commission, Child Protection Network, Da’wa Family Support, JIBWIS and Women’s Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative (WRAPA), among others.
Presenting a draft copy of the Bill to the Commissioner of Women Affairs, Dr. Badiyya Hassan Mashi, for onward transmission to Governor Aminu Bello Masari, the coalition’s Secretary, Hajiya Fatima Jibo, described the death sentence as applicable where the child abused is under the age of nine years and was “lured by a person or persons to commit unlawful, illicit sexual intercourse.”
According to the proposed Bill, “whoever sexually abuses a child commits an offence and shall be liable on conviction to be sentenced to death.”
The document also outlaws the use of children for soliciting for alms, hawking and slavery and recommended prison sentences and fines depending on the extent of violation of the law.
“Whoever procures a child for the purposes of begging for alms or guiding beggars thereby depriving the child the opportunity to to attend or remain in school, commits an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine of not less than N10,000 and community service,” according to the document.
Also speaking at the programme, Save the Children Area Manager, Nura Muhammad, noted that apart from Katsina, 10 other states in the north are yet to adopt the Child Rights Act.
The states, according to him, are Kaduna, Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Kano, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara.