One of the societal vices currently signposting the virtual erosion of moral values in Nigeria is the increasing cases of child molestation. Hardly does a day pass without reported incidents of one form of child abuse or the other. And there are even indications that more cases go unreported. In a case recently, a 12-year-old was just about to be raped by two vigilantes, having already been stripped completely naked, when the bubble burst and help came. The incident reportedly happened at Nkutaku area of Okpoko in the Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State. The child was lucky because help came her way timely and the culprits were apprehended. Others were not that lucky. In another case, one Nwankwo Ifeanyi, an apprentice, was recently jailed for life by a Special Offences Court in Ikeja, Lagos State, for sexually assaulting his boss’s four-year-old daughter. And yet in another, an eight-month-old baby was sexually molested in Lagos. The list is literally endless.

Indeed, the Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Moyosore Onigbanjo, recently revealed that about 1578 children, including an eight-month-old, experienced emotional abuse in 11 months, between September 1, 2021 and July 31, 2022. And those were the reported cases in Lagos alone. These scary statistics are a testament to how grave the burgeoning cases of rape, defilement and child molestation have become in the country. The society seems to be getting more and more dysfunctional by the day and there appears to be no respite on the horizon. Oftentimes, the perpetrators of these dastardly acts are relations of the victims: uncles, cousins, nephews and even fathers.

It is sometimes difficult to fathom the motivation for many of these incidents, leading to the inescapable conclusion that they actually border on madness. For instance, what sexual pleasure can a man with a stable mind derive from a child of eight months or even four years? Without a doubt, these odious incidents happen because societal values are collapsing. Therefore, value reorientation and moral rearmament have to be put in intense advocacy. In particular, parents as the nearest stakeholders to the victims/potential victims should take the lead. Parents need to be vigilant and be a lot more involved in the lives of their children. More importantly, they need to gain the confidence of their children so that they can feel free to report suspicious moves on them by sexual predators. There is the need for some parents to rethink their habit of shutting children up or saying “Go and meet your father/mother.” This is wrong as it alienates parents or creates a gulf between them and their children, thus making early detection by adults of the insidious antics of child molesters quite difficult. And in the case of daughters who are incapable of reporting anything, parents should endeavour to limit the presence of males around them.

Parental duties can be demanding but there can be no justification for parents to abdicate their responsibilities. It is true that the situation of the economy puts pressure on parents, but they must weigh their priorities and make the right decision bearing in mind that their children are the most precious assets they could ever possess. At the other levels of leadership, whether governmental, traditional or religious, deliberate and strategic steps should be taken to ensure that the current sordid narrative about child molestation in the country is reversed. Tackling the menace of sexual assault/ molestation, especially of minors, in a comprehensive and decisive fashion promises to be arduous judging by the pervasive nature of the crime today and the increasing proclivity for morally depraved persons in the society to indulge in it. Thus, while efforts at swaying citizens away from this criminal and morally reprehensible act continue by way of sensitisation, the instrument of the law should also be strengthened and applied to serve the purpose of deterrence.

It will be helpful for every state in the country to place a high premium on curtailing this crime. In this regard, there should be special and functional units in the Ministry of Justice and dedicated courts for handling women and child rights violation issues. And where these outfits already exist, they should be further empowered and strengthened to perform the crucial but onerous task. In addition, official collaboration with the civil society organisations on children and gender abuse issues must be robust. Lagos State seems to be doing something right in that light, and it has resulted in successful prosecution and conviction of some child molesters and sexual predators, including a celebrity, in recent times.

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