31 August 2008
interview
Early this year, wife of the former Secretary to the Federal Government in the Obasanjo administration, Senator Eme Ekaette, in her capacity as Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Women and Youth, proposed a bill for an act to "Prohibit and Punish Public Nudity, Sexual Intimidation and Other Related Offences in Nigeria."
Since the bill, which has passed its second reading and is now at committee level, was proposed, a plethora of criticism and support have been let loose in the media and in every available fora. The bill, many complain, undermines the fundamental human rights of citizens. It discriminates against women and gives far-reaching powers to the police, who many say, sometimes, over- reach themselves in discharging their constitutional role of policing society.
On the other hand, charitable opinion as to the intended reason for the bill are that Madam Ekaette is seeking to prevent cases of rape and sexual intimidation by making it mandatory to dress decently in public.
But there are many issues raised that beg for answers. These issues were critically analysed at the Allure Round Table.
Participants were drawn from Muslim and Christian clerics, legal profession and ordinary folks like you and I. Here, we present the first part of the dialogue.
Remi: What does the bill say?
Donald: Before a law comes into existence, it is normally passed by way of a bill which must passed through the National Assembly after the various stages of reading. If it goes to the president for his assent, it becomes a law. But be that as it may, what we are talking about is a proposed bill.
The name of the bill is The Public Nudity Bill. The bill intends to address the issue of dressing amongst citizens of this nation, although the first attempt at looking at the bill by the National Assembly was vehemently attacked because most of them are of the view that the bill is geared towards addressing the issue of morality which, of course is the function the religious bodies. That is what the bill is about.
Onyinye: The title of the bill is "A Bill for an Act to Prohibit and Punish Public Nudity, Sexual Intimidation and Other Related Offenses in NigEeria". And, I think the major objective of this bill, and from those who have spoken to Senator Ekaete one on one, is to address the issue of sexual intimidation and rape, which is getting on the increase in Nigeria. It is also an attempt to set a subjective standard to determine how people dress personally and to criminalize and penalize whoever does not comply with the content of the bill. Another issue which is very important for us to note here is that the bill also applies to young people who are above the age of 14. So, from 15 years upward, the bill applies to you.
Remi: How do you then determine indecent exposure? Does the bill define it?
Yes. The bill says that public nudity refers to any of the following: a state of nakedness in the public or open; state of indecent dressing which exposes in the public or in the open any of the following parts of the body: the breast of a female above the age of 14, the laps of a female above the age of 14, the belly or and the waist of a female above the age of 14, any part of the body from two inches below the age of 14, any part of the body of the male person above the age of 14 from the waist to the knee.
It goes on to say that any form of dressing with transparent c0lothing or cloth in the public or in the open which exposes any part of the body from 2 inches below the shoulder level down to the knee of a female person above the age of 14 years, provided that exposure of the hand, of the female person above the age of 14 shall not be construed as public nudity. Any form of dressing with a transparent cloth or clothing which exposes any part of the male person above the age of 14, from the waist to the knee in the public or open.
Remi: Well, we have the bill before us now. Pastor Amien, can you start the debate?
Pastor Ahimien: From what you have read to us, what I think people should do is to discipline their minds. If, as a man you see a naked woman and you cannot streamline your mind and focus on what you are doing, I don't think you are fit to be a man. The bill talks about people who go around half naked; we see all that every day. If you go round the streets of Lagos, you'ld see people that are half naked. I don't look at such things. That was why I said you should be able to focus your mind on what it is that you are doing and not on the person who is indecently dressed - as it were. That is what I can say for now.
Remi: I'm actually asking for interpretation of the bill...
Ndidi: It is very funny to me because, first of all, we have other issues that are more pressing to us than this. You are talking about a child from 15 and above - maybe they are talking like this because they concluded, in their minds, that the Nigerian child does not grow as well as the western child. For crying out loud, if you see a 12-year old abroad, the child is all properly developed. The bill really doesn't make sense. What is Senator Ekaete's aim of putting up this bill - which, from what I gather - is to reduce sexual harassment issues. Because from her own interpretation, it is the way people expose their bodies that creates those ideas in the minds of the men. For crying out loud, even if you are totally properly covered - I could be totally covered but fitted and defining my curves. You would get attracted wouldn't you? There are some men that you will expose whatever you want to expose to and they will be disgusted because your boobs are probably bigger than what they expect. So the most that should be done is to propose a kind of bill such that if I am harassed, I could go and make a complaint at the police station but not to say you want to hire men and women to follow people around or that when I go to my tailor I have to tell her, "Don't let my blouse be more than 2 inches deep or 2 inches wide."
Come on, we have more important things to do. The problem with Nigerians is that we like to run away from the main issue. The so-called girls that dress this way, if you look at them they do so to get attention. If things were put in place in this country: water, electricity, people are skillfully trained and more resourceful, that mentality will not be there.
I like my chest. That is not nudity. Are they going to go around, arresting people on the streets so that the police can tell you, "If you don't want to go to jail, give me this amount." By doing that, as far as I am concerned, you are trying to enrich those who are going to enforce this law.
Remi: Can you interpret that from the point of the law?
We have to look at this bill from the point of the law and what the law intended. In law, we look at a particular bill as a whole, not in part. Apart from that, we have to look at what the bill intends doing. Because, if you go by the term nudity - that means you won't put on anything including necklace. That is nudity. Blacklaw Dictionary defines nudity as unclothe, state of complete nakedness. So, if that is the intendiment of this particular bill, the bill itself is wrong. What we have now is Public Nudity Bill. In some other countries like the USA, they have indecent exposure.
Onyinye: It also mentions indecent dressing. The bill is more than just nudity; there is also sexual harassment.
Ndidi: I think they shouldn't have compounded all together. Sexual harassment is a different thing altogether.
Donald: Issues like sexual intimidation has been covered by the criminal code. What we are talking about now, is public nudity. If we go by the term public nudity or nudity, the term public means open; something that is done in the open while nudity means complete nakedness. So if that is the intendiment of this particular bill, the whole thing here is nonsense. But what I have to say about this is that in as much as we are trying to correct a wrong, it would be wrong if we use harassment or illegality to address it. If we have to know the type of dress that will amount to public nudity, we will find it very difficult to enforce it because the bill still goes further to define instances but you people will appreciate the fact here that mad people don't wear anything.
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