Andrew Agbese
24 July 2008
Jos — Perpetrators of rape have been discovered not to have sound religious background, a study conducted by the International Centre for the Advancement of Reproductive Health( CIFARH) has shown.
Executive Director of CIFARH, Professor Innocent Ujah, who disclosed this at an orientation workshop by the Student Union Government of the University of Jos, said majority of the people that responded to the research questionnaire distributed by the agency on sexual violence in the country, agreed that most rapists do not have sound religious backgrounds while only 11 percent said otherwise.
He said this places on religious organisations a great deal of responsibility as the cases of rape and sexual violence had been proven to be on the increase in recent times especially among youths.
CIFARH said this was because the ignorance on the causes of rape was alarming as only about 31 percent of the people interviewed said they had heard about rape while 60 percent said they knew at least one person who had been sexually abused and another 85 percent said they knew of someone who had been raped.
The CIFARH said cases of rape could be reduced by avoiding walking alone in the night, indecent dressing, having the fear of God, sexuality education, avoiding bad company, and meting severe punishment on rapists.
He said the study also discovered that more single women had been raped than their married counterparts and only one percent of those on separation had experienced such.
He urged students to join in the campaign against sexual violence by taking up the fight against the malaise with their fellow students and discouraging indecent dressing among them.
Senator Tawar Wada, who was represented at the occasion by Senator Musa Okpede, urged new students to avoid distractions and concentrate on their studies to realise the purpose of coming to school.
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