Pascal Oparada
Founder, Mirabel Centre, the first sexual assault referral centre in Nigeria, Itoro Anaba, has told how her centre rescued an eight-year-old prostitute in Lagos.
She made the shocking revelation during an interview on Tuesday, She said, not only was the girl a prostitute herself, but was also pimping other girls, mostly her classmates, and taking them to brothels for prostitution.
“A child as young as eight years old was a prostitute and she was brought to our centre. She was not only introduced to sex, she went to primary school and introduced her classmates and was taking them to a brothel.
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“The problem is that we are in denial. We don’t want to confront it. But the danger is, there is always the possibility of a survivor becoming an abuser,” Anaba said.
She said her centre has handled over 3,500 sexual abuse cases, the youngest victim being a four-month-old baby and the oldest, 70 years old.
Anaba, a recipient of the Point of Light Award conferred on her by Queen of England, Elizabeth II, said it took her 10 years to come up with the funds for the centre after she encountered a woman who was being assaulted by her husband.
“It was in 2003, when I was working at the Legal Defence and Assistance Project, one day a young woman walked into my office to tell me how much she has been battered by her husband and she wanted a solution to it.
“She wanted him to stop. When she left my office, as a lawyer I realised there was no law that takes care of people that have been battered in a domestic situation. The most were what was in the penal code that talked about misdemeanor and felony,” she said.
Anaba revealed that the most shocking case her centre had treated was the case of a girl who was being sexually assaulted by her uncle. She said the interesting thing about it was that not only was the girl’s father aware of the abuse but was sending her to her uncle who pays her father after having sex with the girl.
“There is a particular case that shook me and made me realise the importance of the Mirabel Centre. It’s a young girl who was being raped by her uncle. Her father knew. But her father was the one sending her to the uncle to be raped.
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“When this happens, her uncle will pay her father for raping her. But when the uncle traveled, her father started raping her. So, between her father and her uncle, she had abortion seven times. And at the seventh time, her womb was removed”, Anaba said.
Anaba said her centre collaborates with so many not-for-profit organisations to handle cases of sexual assault.
