A Justice of the Court of Appeal, Eberechi Suzzette Nyesom-Wike, who is also the wife of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has called for a comprehensive review of the Child\u2019s Rights Act 2003 to introduce tougher penalties for rape and child sexual abuse in Nigeria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking in Abuja during the inauguration of the national stakeholders\u2019 committee on the review of the Act, she stressed that the revised law should go beyond punishment to include effective prosecution mechanisms, stronger child protection systems, and proper psychosocial support for survivors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She argued that penalties for rape and child sexual abuse must be made stringent and aligned with existing laws such as the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act, so as to serve as a stronger deterrent to offenders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Justice Nyesom-Wike also advocated the inclusion of laws against female genital mutilation (FGM) in the revised Child\u2019s Rights Act, describing the practice as harmful, outdated, and incompatible with modern values of human dignity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She condemned FGM as a dangerous cultural practice that causes severe physical, emotional, and psychological harm, sometimes resulting in death due to complications such as excessive bleeding and infections. She emphasized that rather than resorting to such practices, society should focus on educating girls on moral values, discipline, and self-restraint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to her, FGM does not solve behavioural concerns but instead deepens trauma, encourages curiosity, and exposes victims to long-term health and psychological consequences, including the risk of disease transmission through unsafe procedures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She noted that Nigeria has already made international commitments to eliminate FGM and urged that the revised Child\u2019s Rights Act should firmly address the issue to protect the dignity, health, and rights of the girl-child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beyond this, she called for strengthening specialised family courts to handle all child-related cases exclusively, ensuring child-sensitive procedures, trained judicial officers, and adequate support systems to safeguard minors\u2019 privacy and welfare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She also highlighted the growing threat of cyberbullying, online grooming, and other digital risks facing children, noting that the existing law does not adequately address these emerging challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Justice Nyesom-Wike further emphasized the need to reinforce systems for the protection, rehabilitation, and reintegration of children in conflict with the law, with a strong focus on restorative justice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Justice of the Court of Appeal, Eberechi Suzzette Nyesom-Wike, who is also the wife of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has called for a comprehensive review of the Child\u2019s Rights Act 2003 to introduce tougher penalties for rape and child sexual abuse in Nigeria. Speaking in Abuja during the inauguration of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":85865,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-91631","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dnllegalandstyle.com\/dnl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/child-online.jpg?fit=464%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dnllegalandstyle.com\/dnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dnllegalandstyle.com\/dnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dnllegalandstyle.com\/dnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dnllegalandstyle.com\/dnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dnllegalandstyle.com\/dnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91631"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dnllegalandstyle.com\/dnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91631\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91632,"href":"https:\/\/dnllegalandstyle.com\/dnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91631\/revisions\/91632"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dnllegalandstyle.com\/dnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dnllegalandstyle.com\/dnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dnllegalandstyle.com\/dnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dnllegalandstyle.com\/dnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}