Concerned Mothers Say Parents Should Teach Daughters To Avoid Being Raped

Lagos – Concerned mothers say parents who fail to meet their responsibilities to their female children should be blamed for the increasing rate of rape cases in Nigeria.
Mrs. Veronica Odogwu is a medical practitioner and Head of Health, Confraternity of Christian Mothers, Ijegun, Lagos.

"As mothers, we need to look inwards. Don't let us entrust our children to the wrong people," she warns.

Men who themselves are supposed to be fathers but still rape girls need help, she says. If all women saw any child as their own, that could help to deal with the problem, she adds. A child who is seen roaming the streets aimlessly and not going home or leaving school should be corrected.
Mrs. Chinwe Okoye is a teacher at Queens College, Lagos, and a mother of six girls. She explains how important it is to teach a child to say "No".

"It's pathetic, it's disheartening," she says of men raping minors. "I feel very bad. It is something that I don't understand where they get the guts to do that. It is a thing of the mind for an adult to be able to rape a minor. It's terrible."

She says parents should teach their children, no matter how small they are and how tender their spirit is, to say "No", to teach them to be protecitive of themselves, not to let anyone touch them and alert the grown-ups in any suspicious case. She adds that children should be confident enough to tell their parents about such cases and not be afraid to talk because the rapists frighten them.
Mrs. Francisca Obasuyi is President, Catholic Women Organisation of Nigeria, Saints Joachim and Anne, Ijegun, Lagos.
She says both men and women may be to blame for rape cases. She says mothers should teach their daughters to dress decently so as not to provoke men.
A coordinator in a skill acquisition centre, Mrs. Eugenia Okafor, notes that child labour exposes young girls as easy prey for ill-wishing men. She appeals to mothers to protect and secure children who work as petty traders.
According to all the women, if adequate precautions are taken by all stakeholders, cases of rape can be checked and prevented.