FG to Establish Special Court for Speedy Trial of Rapists, Others

The federal government had declared a zero tolerance to the issue of incessant rape in the country with a directive to the police to arrest all alleged culprits of rape and other forms of sexual and physical violence on the girl-child in the country.

The government in partnership with the judiciary is also to set up a special court that would ensure speedy and seamless trial of rape/genderbased violence offences in the country.

The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), made the declaration yesterday at a joint press briefing on modalities of eradication of gender-based violence in Nigeria, held in Abuja.The AGF noted that outside the police, President Muhammadu Buhari has also directed all relevant government agencies to scale up support for victims of rape and ensure that those who engaged in the act, “face the full weight of the law”.

Malami said, “to tackle this hydra-headed menace headlong, my office (the Federal Ministry of Justice) is currently engaging with the respective Heads of Courts, for the establishment of specialised courts for the speedy and seamless trial of rape/Gender-Based Violence offences in Nigeria. “The aforestated specialised

Court when established will necessarily create a timely/ speedy trial of all pending and incoming rape and other related gender-based cases and facilitate their conclusion within record time.

The minister disclosed that his ministry has also commenced the review of all existing laws and policy instruments relating to offences of rape, child defilement and gender-based violence in Nigeria.