KOGI STATE PENAL CODE LAW 2019: RE-ENACTING THE VIOLATION OF RIGHTS OF WOMEN AND THE GIRL-CHILD

Abstract

The essence of law-making is majorly to bring solution to the problems of the society, in that sense, every enacted law is expected to be curative of the ills of the society. The rights of women and the girl-child have in recent times been at the front burner of rights agitation globally. As such the rights of women are not different from those of the entire comity of human in general. However, it is observed that certain laws in relation to women tend to portray women as less human. It is a thing of concern that some provision of laws enacted with the aim of protecting human rights, most often, turned out to legalize or codify the violation of the rights especially of women and the girl-child as the case may be. A good example is the recent ‘Kogi State of Nigeria Penal Code Law 2019.’ The law enacted some obnoxious provisions against the rights of women and the girl-child in the areas of the age of marriage, rape or consent to sexual intercourse and the justification for inflicting grievous bodily hurt on the woman (wife). The research recommends that the Kogi State Penal Code Law, 2019 be repealed immediately to bring it in tandem with global best practices in the protection of the rights of women and the girl-child.