PROTECT THE CHILD, PROSECUTE THE ABUSER

By Dr. Weriwoyingipre Silver Yeibake, Paediatrics, Federal Medical Centre Yenagoa

silveryeibake@gmail.com 

A child should never have to fear the adults meant to protect her. Yet in Nigeria, statutory rape and child sexual abuse continue to hide in plain sight, protected by silence, poverty, stigma, weak enforcement, and religious taboos that turn abuse into a shame issue rather than a crime. This is not only a crime problem; it is a national failure of family protection, welfare, education, and justice.

Child abuse remains widespread in Nigeria. UNICEF data show that about 6 in 10 children experience some form of violence before age 18, while 1 in 2 experience physical violence. The same survey found that 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 10 boys experience sexual violence, and fewer than 5% of victims receive the help they need. A more recent UNICEF update also found that abuse begins early for many children, with violence affecting children across social and economic groups. Public opinion data reinforce the scale of the problem: a 2025 NOIPolls survey found that 92% of Nigerians believe child abuse is prevalent, while 51% do not know where to report cases. That gap between prevalence and reporting is one of the biggest obstacles to protection.

Child sexual abuse is any sexual activity, physical or non-physical, involving a child who cannot fully understand, consent to, or cope with it. It includes contact acts, such as touching or penetration, and non-contact acts such as sexual exposure, grooming, sexualised language, and online exploitation. In practical terms, it is any sexual behaviour by an adult or older person that uses a child for gratification, power, or profit.

The evidence is disturbing. Nigerian studies consistently show that perpetrators are usually male and known to the victim, often fathers, stepfathers, uncles, neighbours, boyfriends, teachers, and other trusted adults. In Edo State, a recent report documented more than 70 defilement cases within months, with fathers responsible for over half of the perpetrators identified. Across the country, similar patterns appear in the South-South, North-Central, and other regions, showing that this is a nationwide crisis, not an isolated regional scandal.

What makes the problem worse is that many children remain trapped in the same environments where abuse begins. Low reportage, fear of shame, weak laws, cultural silence, and religious taboos often prevent families from speaking out. In many homes, mothers are economically dependent on an abusive partner or relative, so disclosure becomes a threat to survival rather than a path to safety. When a family depends on the perpetrator for food, rent, school fees, or social status, silence is often forced, not chosen.

Female education must sit at the centre of any real solution. Educated girls are better able to recognise abuse, resist coercion, seek help, and remain in school longer. Education also reduces early marriage, improves long-term earning power, and weakens the poverty trap that makes exploitation easier. If Nigeria wants fewer cases of abuse, it must keep girls in school through scholarships, school-feeding support, transport assistance, and targeted cash transfers for poor households.

Poverty-alleviation programmes should also be treated as child-protection tools, not just economic handouts. Evidence from Nigeria shows that cash-transfer programmes can improve school attendance, household consumption, and girls’ enrolment, especially among poorer families. These programmes should be targeted toward households at risk, including single-parent homes, families affected by domestic violence, disability, orphanhood, and extreme deprivation. A stronger welfare system should also include foster homes, emergency shelters, kinship care, legal aid, and trauma-informed social work so that abused children are not sent back to danger.

Nigeria’s reform agenda must go further by turning child protection law into a working system. The Child Rights Act should be fully domesticated and enforced in every state, with mandatory reporting duties for teachers, school administrators, health workers, religious leaders, and social welfare officers who suspect abuse. For teachers in particular, the law should make it clear that they do not need proof before reporting; a reasonable suspicion, a child’s disclosure, unexplained injuries, sudden behavioural changes, sexualised knowledge, repeated absence, or other warning signs should trigger an immediate report. Schools should be required to have written safeguarding protocols, confidential reporting channels, trained designated protection officers, and a clear duty to notify child-protection authorities or the police within hours, not days. School administrators who fail to act on a report, suppress complaints, pressure a child or parent into silence, or ignore signs of abuse should face administrative sanctions, loss of licence or accreditation where applicable, fines, and possible criminal liability for wilful neglect. Any teacher, administrator, or school official who receives a report of suspected abuse and ignores it, buries it, or pressures the child into silence should face clear penalties, including disciplinary action, fines, loss of licence or accreditation where applicable, suspension, dismissal, and, in cases of wilful neglect or concealment, criminal liability. The law should make reporting failure an offence in itself, because silence by trusted adults can leave a child exposed to repeated harm. Schools should also be required to provide victim support services for children who disclose abuse or show signs of trauma. Every school should have a trained guidance and counselling lead, a confidential reporting channel, and a referral pathway to approved child-protection, medical, legal, and psychosocial services. Where a child cannot safely remain at home, the school should be able to activate emergency safeguarding measures, including immediate referral to child advocacy centres, social welfare officers, shelters, and helplines. In practice, this means that a child who reports abuse should not be sent back into silence; she should be met with protection, counselling, documentation, and follow-up support. Schools should also keep records confidential, prevent retaliation or bullying, and maintain contact with parents or guardians only where doing so will not place the child at further risk. Nigeria should also establish a dedicated, toll-free child abuse reporting line that is widely publicised, staffed by trained responders, and linked in real time to police, social welfare officers, medical services, and child-protection centres. The service should allow anonymous or confidential reporting, offer step-by-step guidance, and provide immediate referral for emergency intervention. Crucially, the reporting line should be overseen by an independent coalition of credible NGOs, child-protection experts, and survivor advocates, with clear public reporting on call volumes, response times, referrals made, and case outcomes. That kind of oversight would reduce the risk of concealment, strengthen accountability, and create public pressure for action whenever reports are ignored or delayed. The law should also criminalise digital grooming, sextortion, and other forms of online exploitation, while protecting victims, preserving anonymity, and blocking informal settlements that allow abusers to escape justice.

Traditional rulers also have a role to play in enforcement. As custodians of community values, they can help expose abuse early, refuse to shield offenders, discourage backroom settlements, and use their authority to push families, schools, and local leaders toward proper reporting and prosecution. In communities where formal institutions are weak or mistrusted, their public stance can make the difference between silence and action. Community gatekeepers can improve abuse reporting by creating trusted reporting channels, explaining them in local languages, protecting confidentiality, discouraging informal settlements, and linking survivors quickly to police, social welfare officers, schools, and child-support services.

The consequences of abuse are devastating. Medically, children may suffer genital trauma, infections, unwanted pregnancy, and other long-term reproductive harms. Psychologically, many develop depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, sleep problems, guilt, and suicidal thoughts. Some survivors later develop sexual behavioural difficulties, including risky or disinhibited sexual behaviour, while others experience aversion to sex, fear of intimacy, dyspareunia, or vaginismus. Socially, survivors can face stigma, school dropout, isolation, family breakdown, and difficulty trusting others. These effects can last for years, even decades.

Sexual abuse also takes many forms. It can be classified as physical contact acts, non-physical contact acts, digital acts, and exploitative acts. Physical contact acts include touching a child’s genitals, fondling, kissing in a sexual way, forcing the child to touch the offender’s genitals, oral sex, vaginal or anal penetration, and penetration with an object. Non-physical contact acts include exposing a child to pornography, flashing, masturbating in front of a child, voyeurism, and forcing a child to watch sexual acts. Digital acts include grooming a child online, sending sexual messages, requesting nude images, live-streaming abuse, forcing a child to perform sexual acts on camera, and sharing child sexual abuse material. Exploitative acts include child sexual exploitation, sextortion, child prostitution, trafficking for sexual purposes, and coercing sexual acts in exchange for money, gifts, food, shelter, or favours.

Paediatricians, public health professionals, law enforcement, schools, religious institutions, and government must stop working in silos. Paediatricians can identify injuries, provide emergency care, document findings, and trigger safeguarding referrals. Public health systems can build surveillance, prevention campaigns, and referral networks. Law must be enforced quickly and fairly, with no loopholes that shield powerful offenders. Society, too, must stop protecting adult reputation at the expense of a child’s future.

Nigeria does not lack policies; it lacks consistency, accountability, and courage. Until girls are educated, families are supported, welfare systems are strengthened, traditional leaders are engaged, and offenders are punished, the country will keep producing more survivors than solutions. The child in the home deserves safety before silence, protection before reputation, and justice before excuse.

References

1. UNICEF Nigeria. Situation Analysis of Children in Nigeria: Ensuring equitable and sustainable realization of child rights in Nigeria. CEF Nigeria; 2021/2022.  

2. UNICEF Nigeria. Child PROTECTION. UNICEF Nigeria.  

3. UNICEF. Nigeria Violence Against Children Survey and related response materials.  

4. UNICEF. Ending Violence Against Children in Nigeria. UNICEF Nigeria; 2016.  

5. Ifayomi I, et al. Child Sexual Abuse in Nigeria: A Systematic Review. 2024.  

6. Nigerian Child Rights Act, 2003. Federal Republic of Nigeria.  

7. UNICEF Nigeria. Child rights and State of Nigeria’s Children 2024 resources.  

8. NOIPolls. Nigeria Faces Child Abuse Crises: Poll Highlights High Prevalence, Limited Knowledge of Reporting Channels. 2026.  

9. NOIPolls / Child Protection Hub Nigeria. Prevalence of Child Abuse Alarmingly High in Nigeria. 2017.  

10. Child Rights Manual: Nigeria. Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales and UNICEF. 2013.  

11. African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. Nigeria Initial and First Country Periodic Report.  

12. Cece Yara Child Advocacy Centre. Child Helpline and Community Resources.

13. UNICEF. Caring for Child Survivors of Sexual Abuse: Guidelines.