(part of openDemocracy's '16 days against gender violence' blog series)
by Alexis Hood
Rape is rife in Nigeria, but the Nigerian government has turned a blind eye to the problem, says a report just out by Amnesty International. This is outrageous. Because rape in Nigeria is not a secretive affair. Far from it. It is inflicted on women by state actors, in other words, members of the police and security forces. Women are being raped in their homes and communities, in police custody, and when they visit male relatives in custody. The police use rape to punish, to extract confessions, to put pressure on family members, to intimidate and to humiliate.
It is estimated that around 60% of violence against women is committed in army barracks or police stations. The Nigerian government should be ashamed of this statistic.
Rape is especially widespread in the Niger Delta, where ongoing violence has left civilians at the mercy of the police, the army, and local militant leaders. Women's bodies are part of the terrain of conflict. As in so many wars, rape in the Niger Delta is used as a terror tactic, a systematic weapon of war. Nigeria's security forces are raping women as a counter-insurgency strategy, and to coerce entire communities, they are even keeping women in barracks as sex slaves.
Meanwhile, what is Obasanjo's government doing? Nothing. According to Amnesty, Nigeria is failing to prevent, investigate and prosecute rapes. Most women do not report it when they are raped. They fear their husbands and families will cast them out, and that the police will sneer at them. Tragically, they are usually right. And if a rape case does come to court? There is no adequate definition of the crime to work with, and judges are reluctant to impose the maximum sentence - whatever that may be.
Rape is not about sex. It is about power, and unless the Nigerian government acts to redress this massive imbalance in power between its men and its women, Nigerian men will continue to rape with impunity. Rape is, of course, a notoriously tricky crime to prosecute. But the Nigerian government needs to try a great deal harder than it is currently trying.
