By ESTHER EGBE
Crime foundation
Mrs Gloria Egbuji is the founder of Crime Victims Foundation.Recently,she had an exclusive interview with Esther Egbe.Enjoy as you read on.
As a lawyer, social scientist and also you study victimnology in University of Lagos, what brought the NGO thing? The need at the time, we feel there was a gap in the criminal justice system then.
Crime victims’ foundation was established during the time the world has already starting by creating justice for the victims as well, not just justice for the criminals as we have here. We see that it is not enough to have justice from criminal, if a case is committed spent time running after the criminal with government money, government spend their money pursue him send the person to jail, feed the person, the victim is the one who suffer the harm, when he /she is left alone, nobody care about the person the money loss.
The US felt there should be a balance become created and resolution. There should be office of crime victim too, so other people in the world started adopting it, but there is nothing like that in Nigeria then, normal the civil society wanted to fill a gap, during my research in school, I made the search too and saw the gap too, when I thought of an organization that can fill in the gap to look into the issue and then find people who are victims of crime, after reporting to the police station we help to heal the wound of crime, council person and help you to get back to their normal life. The organization was setup in 1996. It is a long way back.
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT RAPE IN NIGERIA? Rape in Nigeria for me, is still something that people don’t want to speak about, but it is real and happens every day. It is something ,people don’t want to talk about it is hidden is not to be talk about, but its occurs in our society its even happened in home, where people like husbands and wife, but our law is that if a man or husband that cannot actually rape a wife, but in the actual sense the husband still rape here,it is true,because when you look at meaning of rape, the conscience is a big issue, if the wife does not agree having sex then it is rape.
Most young people are been raped, children in the streets, who are trading on the street are been raped by guards, by people, who buy things from them, they are less experienced.
On like in foreign country, when you say definition of rape is a very serious crime everywhere in the country but in Nigeria, when someone is raped, the person lack the means, time is using important after the rape take place, the victim should reported immediately for them to give out fact of the incident to the police is responsible to take the person to the hospital to get the evidence that the person was actual rape. That is number one something to do, but most times when the victim even report the case they are not able to handle the matter professional.
The other aspects of people not agreeing to take such cases to fight it till the end. In this office I have been here when a woman came crying that her daughter that is seven years old has been raped by a man who is fifty years old cause the case is very fresh, we need time to attend to that case and urgently, but the woman was crying as well, when is the man. We advice the woman to report the case to the police station midway she change her mind said no what will happen to my child ,that she is no longer interested ,that she does want men to see the child as the child who has been raped by a man grown man, that is how the case was killed, telling us that she want to go and think about it, but we advice that it was a case of time, if if she delay she will lost the case that how the woman draw back and several other cases like this, case will want to purse to finish we could not cause the people involved are not interested again, simply because the child will be stigmatize and there the police make it worse. Sometime, when you go to police station to report the cases, the police man will asked the victims annoying questions like why did you wear short dresses? Why did you expose yourself for them to rape you? Making the matter worse so all this makes thing terrible for the victim. Hardly before you see a rape cases that goes to conclusion, it is become difficult because the victim heed to come out. There is another incident that happen recently, a woman came to our office to report an incident like that, keep planning that a man living in the same compound when everybody ahs gone to work, the man open the door of her house and started begging he for sex. And the woman said to the man what is all this now, before she could realize it she was over power by the man and she was raped by the man.
The victim said what she thought at that moment was so confused about the whole thing, after the incident happen. After the man has come to his senses, he started begging her, she thought of what can she do now to the matter, they should kill the case saying she is married that the case has been disturbing her, she cannot sleep.
We councilled her and after some time, she came again, we told her it was late for the evidence, she said during the incident the man torn her bra , we decide to make a case out of it but she insisting the man was begging her, during that time the man we invited the man ,he now turn to abuse her that she was the one, whenever she passes through his window this and that how can you beg the man cause she is going to be expose her , this is a clear matter that we would have gone ahead to report the matter to the police, the case attract almost the minimum of 14 years in jail and the woman had to swallow it and we have seen several others rape happen in our society everyday, people can report it, because the case police are not able to handle the matter in other countries a woman handle cases like that take with confidential that is how we treat our matters in crime victims foundation, we are assure you bring here, if you go to the police the evidence should be something you give in private and keeping the case between you and the person but police keep anybody who are not capable of handling the case.
People who handle rape case should be properly trained to handle the case, because the victim is already in trauma, a rape victim going through a lot physically, psychologically that should be handle with care only by trained people, that is where we are now sometime, I asked myself also man who works in offices telling a female workers to sleep with them to keep their job? Weather that is not rape too? I do asked that question RAPE IS A BIG ISSUE IN THE SOCIETY
When you see people who are working now in big offices and their bosses want to sleep with them or they do sleep with them, some people will do and after their conscience will start getting disturbed, the act is like of fraudulent conscience, my advice is to say no and loss your job. People always say the economic is bad, these are all the trouble around that we see for me there is a whole lot to come out feel that setup an organization to start talking with the young girls to talk to them about so many things. Rape is a big issue in our society, so however when the other partner does not agree is rape, it is a problem.
The labor level has said employer does not have the right to impose an employee to an unwilling matter, but if there is victim we will be able to take it up. If there is evidence that the person is a responsible staff, reliable person in the company and this man has been making demand and if confirmed it, we will fight the case. At least, even naming and shaming you, if you say yes, you cannot impose an employee because any willing master I don’t want you but the will make sure that we expose that case and follow it up.
In some case, if they decide to keep the victim they may not promote the person, but the person is making a difference, we advise victims to be an example to other people and save them from further ill incident in the society. But some will say the economic is bad.
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