Chioma Nwigwe, Director of The Eight Foundation, said the different sub-sections in Section 7 ought to have been merged into one sub-section.

“‎This bill actually recommends imprisonment for life as punishment for defilement of‎ any child below the age of 18,” said Ms. Nwigwe, whose organization is dedicated to highlighting the issue of sexual violence against women and providing victims with the necessary support.

“However, what is confusing is why they chose to put those penalties in different sections.. The bill could have simply said: ‘A person who commits an offence of defilement on any child is liable upon conviction to imprisonment for life.’ The child has already been defined by the Constitution and by the Children and Young Persons Act.

‎”A lot of people have read just one subsection, which is that subsection‎ that says ‘A person who commits an offence of defilement with a child aged eleven years or less shall upon conviction be sentenced to imprisonment for life’ and interpreted it to mean that 11 years is now the new age of consent, but that is not true. The same penalty is imposed on defilement of any child below the age of 18.‎”

Ms. Nwigwe called for an amendment of some sections of the bill, including Section (7)(5) which states that:

(5) It is a defence to a charge under the section (if)-

(a) It is proved that such child deceived the accused person into believing that he or she was over the age of eighteen years at the time of the alleged commission of the offence; and

(b) the accused person reasonably believed that the child was over the age of eighteen years.

‎”This is a child, you can’t expect‎ them to be responsible, that is why they are children,” she said.

“That is why the law is expected to go out of its way to protect them. So when you impose responsibility on this child, you’ve taken away the protection the law offers them. The responsibility should be on the adult to make sure the child is over the age of 18, in which case they will no longer be children.

“So what this law does is it takes away the coverage this law had given to the child and impose responsibility on the child. And that is what we should be fighting. These defences need to be taken out.”

Femi Falana, a human rights lawyer, also described the bill as “obnoxious” and threatened to go to court if the bill is signed into law.

According to Mr. Falana, when the bill was unanimously passed for a second reading by the Senate on November 21, ‎2013, it sought a penalty of life imprisonment for the offence of defilement of children less than 18 years.

“It was that Committee (Committee on Judiciary and Legal Matters) that illegally removed the age of 18 years and replaced it with 11 years,” said Mr. Falana.

Since the passage of the Sexual Offences Bill 2015 a few weeks ago, there has been great agitation from several quarters about the true import of the Bill. To many of the pundits and agitators, the Bill is anathema because of its anticipated provision criminalising sexual activity with a child aged eleven or less. In their opinion, such a provision officially sanctions eleven years as the approved age for sexual activity by children in Nigeria.

Nigeria’s statutory rape law is violated when an individual has consensual sexual contact with a person under age 11 (Age of Consent, 2017)

Yinusa Yellow is currently in jail for abduction and rape. Ese Oruru never gave consent. The court determined in count 5 of the charges that she was old enough to give consent.

Justice Jane Inyang, sentenced Yunusa to five years in prison for count 2, seven years in prison for count 3,4 and 5 respectively, noting that the prison terms are to be served consecutively.

Now let's examine the charges:

The charges against Yunusa read: “That you, Yunusa Dahiru, a male, resident in Opolo-Eipie area of Yenagoa in Bayelsa State, conspired with the duo of Dankano Mohammed and Mallam Alhassan, between August 2015 and February 2016, to commit an offence of abduction and thereby committed offence punishable under section 27(a) of the Trafficking in Persons (prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015.”


Count two: “That you, Yunusa Dahiru, abducted Ese Oruru by means of coercion, transported and harboured her in Kano State and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 13(2)(b) of the Trafficking in Persons (prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015.”

Count three: “That you, Yunusa Dahiru induced Ese Oruru by the use of deception and coercion to go [/b]with you from Yenagoa to Kano State with the intent that she be forced or seduced into illicit intercourse and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 15(a) of the Trafficking in Persons (prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015.”

Count four: “That you, Yunusa Dahiru, procured Ese Oruru and subjected her to sexual exploitation in Kano State and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 16(1) of the Trafficking in Persons (prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015.”

Count five: “That you, Yinusa Dahiru, had unlawful carnal knowledge of Ese Oruru without her consent and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 357 of the criminal code Act and punishable under section 358 of the Criminal code ACT, Cap. C.38 laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.”

Defilement of Under-aged Girls: What is the Verdict of the Supreme Court of Nigeria?

Hon. Justice John Inyang Okoro, JSC
The above notable and profound pronouncement forms part of the ipsissima verba of my lord, the Hon. Justice Okoro, Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria when he delivered the leading Judgment on Friday, 30th January, 2015 in the case of BONIFACE ADONIKE v. THE STATE (2015) 7 N.W.L.R (pt 1458) 237 at 266 paragraphs B-D. The case of Boniface Adonike (Supra) once more brings to the fore the duty on sentencing authorities to show in the application of the law that society abhors cases of defilement of young girls. The law on defilement of under-aged girls in Nigeria is provided in Section 218 of the Criminal Code, Cap. 42, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria. The section provides that “any person who has unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl under the age of thirteen years is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for life, with or without whipping”. Any person who attempts to have unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl under the age of thirteen years is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for fourteen years, with or without whipping. A prosecution for either of the offences defined above in this section must be begun within two months after the offence is committed. A person cannot be convicted of either of the offences defined in this section upon the uncorroborated testimony of one witness.

MuchAdo:
Ageofconsent.net/world

Ageofconsent.net/world has the list of all the countries in the world and their respective age of consent based on their most recent laws.

It says Nigeria's age of consent is 11

CanadaOrBust:


My brother Virgin be careful, they’d ban this your moniker too, for talking nonsense