Population commission laments high rate of intercourseual abuse

[Mirror]

•Seeks 10-year-jail term for offenders

The commissioner representing Abia State at the National Population Commission (NPC), Dr. Sam Ahaiwe, yesterday lamented the increasing rate of intercourseual abuse in the country and recommended a minimum penalty of 10 years jail term for offenders.

The 10-year-jail term, he said, should be without an option of fine, which according to him, would serve as a deterrent.

According to Ahaiwe, who spoke yesterday in Umuahia at a ceremony to mark 2013 World Population Day, claimed that the current punishment of two years jail term was not good enough and could teach offenders any lesson.

The commissioner believed that "very little is done to address intercourseual abuse in Nigeria despite high rates of occurrence". He said drastic measures needed to be taken to tackle the menace.

Speaking "Teenage pregnancy," Ahaiwe, who also read the speech of the Commission's Chairman, Eze Festus Odumegwu, said World Health Organisation (WHO) statistics showed that teenage pregnancy had been on the increase in Nigeria and other African countries.

Quoting WHO statistics, he said: "About 16 million girls aged 15 to 19 years and two million girls under the age of 15 give birth every year.

"Worldwide, one in five girls has given birth by age of 18 and in the poorest regions of the world; this figure rises to over one in three girls".

National Mirror