Stakeholders advocate early sex education, to stem rape

Mrs Hauwa Shekarau, Country Director of IPAS Nigeria on Thursday called for the collaboration of all stakeholders towards early sex education, to reduce incidences of rape among children and adolescents.

Shekarau made the call while delivering a lecture, “Appropriateness of Sexuality Education in our Schools,’’ at the 2017 Family Week and Breast Feeding Awareness campaign organised by the Lagos Council of the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ).

She said that adolescents deserved adequate information, in order not to fall prey to various consequences of unprotected sex.

“Comprehensive sexuality education is not a taboo,’’ she said.

Shekarau said that defilement made children grow up to become timid adults.

She urged schools to carry parents along in the preparation of Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE).

“Young people should be able to acquire sex education the appropriate way.

“If you don’t tell them the right things, they will get the information, whether right or wrong, elsewhere,’’ she said.

Shekarau questioned the old tradition where abstinence was preached, instead of providing the various options for prevention of rape and teenage pregnancy to adolescents.

“In this age, where paedophiles are lurking around, how would a child that is abused be able to report it?,’’ she queried.

Shekarau said that parents would not be there when youths have to make decisions about having sex and as such, should be given appropriate education.

Supporting the position, Mrs Ifeyinwa Omowole, NAWOJ National Chairperson, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that no amount of information was too much in sex education.

Omowole said that parents usually shied away from providing detailed information to help adolescents make appropriate choices, when confronted with the issue of sex.

“As a mother, it is not enough to say to a girl-child that she will get pregnant if a man touches her, without giving her accurate guidance,’’ she said.

Omowole also advised mothers to breastfeed their newborns well, to prevent cancer.

The Lagos State Commissioner for Information, Mr Steve Ayorinde, in a message said “a breastfeeding mother must be immune from any domestic violence, supported financially, emotionally and should be well fed, so that the breast milk can flow well’’.

Ayorinde, represented by Mrs Toro Oladapo, a Director in the ministry, said that breastfeeding increased “the bond of understanding between children and their mothers’’.

Mrs Sekinat Lawal, Lagos Council Chairperson of NAWOJ, recalled that in 2016, the association created awareness on domestic violence, but the scourge was still on and needed more attention.

“Just some weeks back, acid was poured on a lady in Isolo.

“There should be a law restricting the sale of acids in the country, to stem such reckless usage of it,’’ she said.

NAN

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