THE OFFENCE OF RAPE IN NIGERIA: SUGGESTIONS FOR STATUTORY AND PRACTICAL REFORMS

Rape is a very serious crime the world over. It is a crime that attracts imprisonment, and in some jurisdictions the death sentence. In Nigeria, the offence of rape is provided for in both the Criminal and Penal codes. It is defined as unlawful non-consensual carnal knowledge of a woman by a man punished by imprisonment for life under the Criminal code, and fourteen years under the Penal code with or without caning. Other jurisdictions have the same definition though with the passage of time the definition has been expanded. As serious as the crime of rape is, newspapers reports in Nigeria are replete with cases of rape almost daily. It is against this backdrop that this gives an overview of the offence of. rape in Nigeria with the aim of making suggestions for reforms of the law itself, and the process of implementation. ‘This paper posits that statutory provisions are of little or no value where the mechanism for implementation is ineffective.