A spokesman for Delta State Police Command, Vibrant Edafe, has warned {that a} life sentence awaits any grownup having sexual activity with underage kids.
Edafe acknowledged that folks and guardians who try to cowl up incidents of kid defilement may also be punished underneath the regulation.
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Edafe, in a publish on X on Sunday, acknowledged that these discovered concealing such crimes might face costs of aiding and abetting.
He defined that sexual activity with both a boy or a woman underneath the age of 13 is classed as defilement and carries a most sentence of life imprisonment underneath Part 218 of the Prison Code.
The policeman famous that consent is irrelevant in these instances, and authorized makes an attempt to mitigate the offence via court docket or affidavits is not going to be efficient.
“So going to court docket and swearing to an affidavit received’t work. In actual fact, any mum or dad who tries to cowl defilement could possibly be charged to court docket for aiding and abetting,” Edafe stated.
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In response to UNICEF, initially known as the United Nations Worldwide Kids’s Emergency Fund in full, violence in opposition to kids is a pervasive downside, very near residence.
It added that in Nigeria, six out of each ten kids within the nation endure a number of types of bodily, sexual or emotional violence earlier than they attain 18. Greater than 70 per cent expertise this violence repeatedly.
UNICEF stated one in 4 ladies and one in ten boys have skilled sexual violence.
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In Could 2024, Lagos State Authorities revealed final month that 416 instances of various types of baby abuse had been reported within the final 12 months.
The Commissioner, Ministry of Youth and Social Improvement, Mr. Mobolaji Abubakre Ogunlende, disclosed this on the ongoing annual ministerial press briefing to mark the primary 12 months of the second time period of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in Lagos.
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Giving a breakdown, he stated that there have been 49 reported instances of bodily abuse, 14 instances of sexual abuse, 14 instances of defilement, 17 instances of kid trafficking, 51 instances of abandonment and 6 instances of kid marriage.