50 kids raped in Plateau in four months – Plateau State Government

The Plateau State government yesterday released data revealing that about 50 children of all sexes have been raped in the state in the past four months alone, saying there has been a surge in the crime. 

“Our records show 50 recent cases of rape in the state. This is just within the last four months or so,” Mrs. Rufina Gurumyen, state commissioner for Women Affairs told newsmen in Jos ahead of the launch of the state initiative to End Violence Against the Children (EndVAC), to come up this week.

EndVAC is a national child protection campaign funded by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Plateau keyed into the campaign following President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive last year for states to initiate their own respective campaigns. 

The commissioner said the process of getting the data had been painstaking because even parents of the victims of rape were not keen on disclosing the act for fear of stigma on their children. 

Earlier, the UNICEF described the planned launch as a milestone in the global efforts to protect the child from violence.

“The media has a critical role here because of its importance as the voice to reach out to the people on this campaign,” Barrister Ladi Alabi, the Child Rights Protection Specialist of the UNICEF Bauchi Field Office said.

Samuel Kaalu, the UNICEF Communications Officer, disclosed that Plateau State was among the first four to have keyed into the national campaign and the first in the North.

Credit: DailyTrust