Female lawyers recommend castration for rapists

Lawyers under the aegis of International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) have recommended castration of rapists.

The association also canvassed for the establishment of more family courts in Nigeria to discourage injustice that may arise from the dearth of the system.

Kwara State Chairperson of FIDA, Gloria Okodua, told reporters in Ilorin, Kwara State capital.

She said lack of family courts discouraged complaints of child abuse, rape and other domestic rights violations.

Mrs Okodua regretted that rape is on the increase with weak commensurate punishment, more so as capital punishment is no longer fashionable.

She said: “We are often faced with child abuse complaints including rape. Although the penal code law can induce reduction in penalty, the child right law goes further by seeking life jail for instance for a rapist, yet the offence is on the rise here in Kwara.

“This is why we are advocating for outright castration. It may not be enough, but it will send due signal, death would have been it; let a rapist be killed.

She said “the court is trying, after all we have laws, but we lack its total implementation.

“We want total implementation of those laws like the child right law. We in Kwara were the first to domesticate it.”

The female lawyer recommended the establishment of more family courts across the country, regretting that only one exists in Kwara State unlike Lagos with many.

She said despite the dearth of family court, FIDA in the state had prosecuted about 30 cases and won 10 convictions, adding: “The child right law is really helping us.”