Coordinator, Rule of Law and Anticorruption (RoLAC) Programme in Anambra State, Dr Josephine Onah, has charged members of Child Protection Network (CPN) to sustain the campaign against child sexual assault.
According to her, the goal of RoLAC’s intervention is to ensure that justice is served and perpetrators end up in correctional centres.
Dr Onah made the call during a one-day training organized by CPN for executive directors of its member-organizations on child sexual abuse case management.
The event was targeted at advancing CPN Anambra’s pursuit of safer and more supportive environment, and enhancing reporting mechanisms for Child Sexual Abuse survivors.
It was supported by the European Union and International IDEA under the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (RoLAC 2) programme.
Onah commended CPN members for their efforts so far urging them to intensify efforts towards ensuring that victims get justice perpetrators duly prosecuted for their criminal actions.
“You have done so well because getting the offenders remanded in custody is something worthwhile.
Justice is relative
According to RoLAC Coordinator justice is relative terms which means different things to different people.
“Some people view justice as arresting perpetrators. Others see it as getting them jailed.
“But please know that we are not yet there. Yes, we have some perpetrators that have been remanded.
“But more needs to be done to get to the end of that justice circle, which means the correctional centre. That for us is critical.
Onah encouraged them to beef up efforts towards making critical justice sector players to appreciate the goal of the campaign.
“If there is any advocacy that we can undertake to relevant stakeholders in the justice sector, please let us know.
“But before advocacy, we must be sure of the status of the cases. Are they with the police or have gone to the DPP or from the DPP to the courts?
“By the time we have cases completed and perpetrators serving their time in the correctional centre, we beat our chest to say we’ve hugely succeeded.
“Everything we are doing is geared towards achieving that deliverable” Onah concluded.
Don’t ignore cases in less burdened areas
Dr Onah charged CPN members not to limit their focus only to areas where child sexual assault is prevalent.
“RoLAC in 2024 had support for 50 cases. While we pay attention to areas with prevalent cases, we will not stop going to those localities with low rate of occurrence because one case that you attend to there might be equal 10, 20 elsewhere.
“You find out that in some localities, people are often clueless on what we are doing about sexual gender-based violence.
“One case that you attend to and you are able to raise the knowledge of the people there, then they are still able to support sexual gender-based violence.
“That’s a great achievement or a milestone for us. And you find out that you can forestall several occurrences of SGBV.
“Let’s spread our tentacles and reach everywhere. That is the purpose for this conversation.
33 cases reported in 1st quarter 2025
The Coordinator of CPN, Mrs Eucharia Anekwe, said the training became compelling because many people have joined the network since the last training.
“Today, we have some new people joining us and that is why we are going to discuss abut child sexual abuse.
“We need to speed up and spread our tentacles. RoLAC pays N10,000 for each case pick up.
“But most times we pick up cases and we don’t document them. 33 cases reported on sexual assault in the last quarter.
“Some of them have died natural death because relatives are not interested in it. Some are being prosecuted in court but their success is rooted in evidence.
“So, before you start running with a case, do your little investigations because these young girls might be very funny. They keep changing their narratives.
“When you don’t have adequate proofs, let the victims or relatives know it is a 50-50 case.
In a presentation on sexual assault, a CPN member, Mrs Ugochi Freeman, urged members especially those joining newly to be passionate about the job.
“We must be resolute about it. Handling many cases may be frustrating but we must trudge on.
“In dealing with cases, you have 48 hours to ensure that the persons is not infected with STIs and you don’t lose evidence against the perpetrators.
“So, move fast to help the person. This also helps in achieving successful prosecution.
She also stressed the need for networking and partnership. “When you get a case, kindly link up with other. Networking helps a lot.
“As you do that, you are also learning and gaining more knowledge from those handling the cases with you”.
