7 September 2008
column
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 second part of the dialogue.
Jemi- There are so much we see on TV that we just take hook line and sinker and assume that, in the real world, that is how it is. The western media has a very strong influence on us. Major programmes go on NTA, MBI and Nigerians don't watch, everytime, they are on cable TV. So, half the time, we are consuming the things that are outside.
Talking about the red carpet things, is it everyday you come out in a flowing shinning gown? We don't draw the lines here. Those people we see on the red carpet are stars, you ask yourself, are you a star. Have you been up there were people see you and begin to cheer you? What have you done, what have you achieved for yourself in your field, have you done anything that will put you on the spotlight? You want to come out and be recognized for nothing.
People are not properly developed and they cannot draw the lines, they do not know where morality starts and where immorality begins. So we do what is not right and think it is. Except we have a mind that is developed, we will not be able to draw the line.
Ngozi- Most women go for soft sell magazines which is why we have the duty as journalists to report correctly, let's identify the type of clothes that are to be worn during the day and night, the type of event it should be worn to. Let's start to define that for people because the truth is that they don't know, which is ignorance, and ought to be taught and it is through these papers and magazines that they read that they can learn from.
As a fashion reporter, you set the pace, you cannot be reporting fashion and you don't dress well and look good. You should be a product of what people preach because people see you and, most times, tend to emulate what you do, how you look and dress. I think the biggest way we can start a change to report correctly.
Salahudeen- I will want to say that modernity is supposed to help us improve our methodology not necessarily changing our ethics. Modernity is supposed to help us progress not necessarily create trouble in our social interactions, with particular respect to your question, I do not know why, away from the fact that entertainment could directly or indirectly affect our cultural values.
I think that this sitting should agree there is need to regulate the things our children watch and read because, it affects others also. Whatever we do affect others. There is nobody or person who is an island, one way or the other, you interact with people and the community at large and you are being influenced by certain things and this is so unfortunate.
We must feel concerned about what is going on in our community, whether the person in the act feels it's okay or not, for the fact that we will show some level of concern.
Vivien- Many years ago, Cossy came out and said that her turning point was her boobs and what she is showing is her cleavages. Unfortunately for me, I haven't got that much to show, which is why I am saying I don't know how she got them. I think what we should do like Jemi said, we should educate them because they are ignorant. We should let them know what to wear and what not to wear.
Salahudeen- What is it that interests women in exposing their cleavages? Honestly, I would want to know.
Remi- He is asking a question as a man.
Salahudeen- When we look at the clea-vages you are talking about, we get sensitized, we feel some touches.
General laughter
Salahudeen- No let's be realistic.
Remi- Sir, ask your wife. Okay ladies; let's answer Alfa's question.
Vivien- Well, for me because I cannot speak, for any other person, it makes me feel good and not because I want my man to see me and say oh! She's got nice cleavages.
Salahudeen- Let us agree that society is even complaining about these things.
Oghowon- When we say it is because of modernity that we dress wrongly, I find that to be wrong. It is as if you are saying culture is good and modernity is bad but, yet, she is bad and she is modern. It seems that we are confused about what our culture and traditions are. When we look at our culture and tradition, we see that there are some defaults in them, so, are we saying that modernity has brought bad things, that our culture has always been pure and good?
Salahudeen- As far as I am concerned, after going through the proposed bill, I think the implementation of the bill would be problematic but the content therein might not be bad altogether. We can extract those things that are good.
The bill also talks about transparent dressing and sexual harassment and whatever. I think we should look at the bill and extract the good and leave those things that are bad.
I do not agree that the police should implement the bill. Looking at the bill, one finds that the chunk of the activity is handed over to the police.
Vivien- I think there are some good parts in the bill. The other issues, like sexual harassment and rape, have already been provided for by the criminal law. The only aspect that has not been provided for is the nudity act. I think it should be trashed. The way a woman dresses depends on her. Whatever you want to wear, Nigeria is a free society. Let your conscience judge you.
They should allow everyone to wear what they want to wear but, on the part of a fashion writer or journalist, it is time we began to tell people what to wear at particular times of the day and to what event, but it is left to people to decide. Let's know that we have done our own part and not keep showing people like Cosy when they expose their bodies.
Jemi
I believe that the senator advocating the bill means well but to start running after a 15-year old with tape-rule is ridiculous. The senator means well but this is not the approach. I think we should just trash it for now and find better ways to improve the lives of children and women in this country. While we can not totally amend the bill, I think we should trash it for now.
Perhaps, the National Orientation Agency could do a media campaign on the issue, to educate people on dressing rather than pursing them with tape-rule on the streets; measuring two inches up and two inches down. We should just put it aside and deal with more serious and fundamental issues that affect children and women in the society.
Morenike- I think it is totally indecent to pass such a bill. I will like to call on the president because it really lies on him at the end of the day. If he doesn't approve it, it will not be approved. Take pity on the poor and under privileged women of this country and administer measures that will address there problems.
For instance, Nigeria has the highest maternal mortality rate in the world, yet, Nigeria is not the poorest country in the world. There are countries like Sierra Leone and Algeria; they are just back from wars but they don't have such a bad case at all. Please, they should pass laws that will look after our women and children and forget about what people are wearing for now.
Oghovwen- I agree with what they have said. It (the bill) should be thrown out. They should address issues that are more serious. I think a group of intellectuals like lawyers and women who work in social service should come together and look at the issues affecting women; let them be the ones to advise accordingly and then put something together. Because, the way the bill is now, it doesn't really do anything for us.
Donald- Well, my view about this bill is that it needs to be completely re-written or re-drafted in order to address the wrong which it intends to correct. The title of the bill is the problem because it does not reflect most of its provisions.
All of us know that the dressing habit of majority of our ladies is most embarrassing, but we need to give the bill a human face to bring it in line with what obtains in other jurisdictions.
This bill went further to give the police enormous powers. A bill that gives the police the powers of the Attorney General, as it relates to fiat, is wrong because, the Nigeria Police could be rash in exercising this power. And we know who the police are.
If the powers of the Attorney General is given to them, they will abuse it, resulting in executive rascality. For me, I will recommend the title of bill to read Indecent Exposure in Public Places.
Another thing is that, apart from the fact that we are looking at the bill, laws passed by the National Assembly do not end there. We have judges who made these laws. This arises when the courts act on these laws and construe the intention of the legislature; as we've seen them interpreting the Electoral Act of 2004,where some of the provisions are trashed.
It is better we work on this particular bill in order not to engender such a situation .Once again, I am advocating for a law on indecent dressing or indecent exposure because what we see along the road on daily basis is not outright nudity, but indecent dressing which I believe the law can address.
Ausmen- I think that they should throw the bill away because there are better issues to tackle. There is no power supply in Nigeria. There is unemploy-ment, people are angry. A busy mind would not dress indecently.
There are better things to engage your mind with. I think they should do other things and pass laws that will enhance the betterment of this nation.
Onyinye- Finally, may be this will interest you. A gender-focussed civil society has taken up part of the bill introduced by Senator Chris Anyanwu on sexual intimidation. What they did was take part of the bill on nudity and that on sexual intimidation to make a single bill out of it. They are now approaching the National Assembly to accept it.
The title of the bill is quite long. It deals with indecent exposure, sexual harassment, harmful traditional practices on women, etc. About six major issues that affect women. This should be one of the things that journalists should write about. We believe that a harmonized bill will address all the issues affecting women.
Another revelation we got at the public hearing is that the bill was lifted verbatim from a United States law in the state of Ohio. It is not really indigenous to us. There are still a lot to be done. As much as we want to address our social problems, we still have a long way to go.
Remi- If the bill was lifted, the Senator should be charged for plagiarism. I am suggesting that the bill should be re-written in such a way that it doesn't give so much power to the police and also address the exposure limits. I think the whole thing could be done in such a way that if the bill is passed in the correct form, people would think twice before they get to the streets half naked. That is what we are trying to offer here.
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