|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Teslim Balogun and the National stadiums in Lagos were filled with colours and animated by high spirits as many people poured in to mark the Children’s Day.
Titilope Odeola, a child sexual education expert seized day to talk about various types of child abuse at an event organised by Change-a-Life foundation, a social service non-profit organisation that assists people with academic, entrepreneurial and leadership potential reach their goals.
Odeola stated that the goal of child sexual education is enable the young live safe and healthy. To achieve this, children need to be taught how to spot potential sources of physical, psychological and emotional abuses. Given the increasing rate of child sexual abuse, she dwelt more on how to detect appropriate and inappropriate touches.
“Children, know the names of the parts of your bodies and there are some parts of your body at which no one should touch you. Some touches are good while others are bad. For instance, do not allow anybody touch head, buttocks, breasts, reproductive organs, and eyes, these are bad touches” Odeola emphasised.
“It does not matter who the person is. When anyone touches you inappropriately, be they your aunties or uncles, ask them to stop. Should they persist, shout for help until someone comes. For girls, do not allow your father to carry you on his legs, this means no man should ever carry you on their legs” she said.
Child sexual abuse in Nigeria is an offence under several sections of chapter 21 of the criminal code. The age of consent is 18.
The United Nations Children’s Emergency Funds (UNICEF) reported in 2015 that one in four girls and one in ten boys in Nigeria had experienced sexual violence before the age of 18. According to a survey by Positive Action for Treatment Access, over 31.4 percent of girls there said that their first sexual encounter had been rape or forced sex of some kind.
STEPHEN ONYEKWELU
