The Permanent Secretary, Adamawa Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs Saso Ali, has disclosed that 149 cases of rape were recorded in the last 10 months in the state.
In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Yola, Ali explained that the cases were recorded between January and October, 2021, adding that 123 of the cases were minors.
She said the state GBV incident data indicated that survivors in 86 percent of the cases desired access to justice and received services by the police.
The Permanent Secretary said that 89 percent of the perpetrators were charged to courts after receiving services from the police.
“By the reports, I received from Adamawa Hope Center, the Gender-Based Violence (GBV) is on the increase in spite of the sensitisation and awareness creation on the ills of rape by government agencies and development organisations.
“We are yet to secure a single conviction on the cases,” she said.
According to her, the domestication of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Act more awareness creation needs to be done for people to have a better understanding of the law.
Ali called on the police and the ministry of justice to ensure speedy trial and conviction of the perpetrators to serve as a deterrent to others.
She said that the measure would help to reduce the menace to the barest minimum.
“If we do not have conviction, some bad elements will continue to commit rape because they may feel that nothing will happen to them,” she said.
