The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Sunday Dare has condemned the increase in the rate of rape and gender-based violence in the country.
The minister, who recently launched a campaign tagged: ‘NigerianYouthAgainstRape’, stressed his support for victims of rape, saying, “The youth are the greatest victims of rape and we condemn this inhumane act in the strongest terms. We will join the vanguard against rape and ask for the stiffest penalty possible.”
Dare, who described rape as “a brutal crime that attacks the mind, body and soul”, said the act must not be allowed to take root in the Nigerian society. He added that his ministry would champion the fight against the dastardly act as prescribed in the National Youth Policy. “No Nigerian, whether male or female, should be discriminated against or made a victim anywhere in this country. We must unite to fight against rape in all forms. All Nigerian youth must take the responsibility to be on the lookout for their female counterparts and offer them protection. Stigmatising victims must be stopped and completely outlawed.”
The Youth and Sport Minister said further: “I am totally against a mindset that makes women victims, and then compound their suffering by blaming them for the evil that has befalling them. When people blame an individual for being raped, it discourages others from speaking out, because each survivor and their families are afraid that they will be blamed and labelled for what happened to them.”
He thanked President Buhari for his resolute stand against rape and vowed to join him in the fight to protect young women from rape and physical assault.
While calling on the Nigeria Police Force to review its methods of investigating cases of gender-based violence and rape, with the objective of solving them with minimal pain to the survivors, the minister challenged civil organisations to deploy technology in support of their work against the social menace.