ABSTRACT
This study focused on girl child defilement and its implication on the society, Benin City. Five (5) research questions were raised for the study. The study adopted survey research design. The population of the study was residents in Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo Sate.
The study adopted descriptive survey research design, simple random sampling technique was used to select 250 respondents who formed the sample population of the study. The instrument for data collection was a questionnaire; it was built around the research question by the researcher and validated by the researcher’s supervisor. 250 questionnaires were printed and shared to the respondents. The questionnaires were retrieved almost immediately to ensure 100% return rate. Data collected were analyzed using frequency count, percentages, mean and standard deviation.
The major findings of the study are as follows: the nature of girl child defilement are: sexual contact with someone under age 13 is rampant, sexual contact with someone who cannot legally give consent or with someone sick mentally is common, sexual contact involving ejaculation without the consent of the person is high, and Sexual contact with someone within the age of 16 and 17 is a common menace. This finding is in line with Ajuwon, Olaleye, Faromoju, Ladipo and Akin-Jimoh, (2001) who in a study conducted among University students in Ibadan by on the sexual coercion of University students, reported that 15% of the students reported forced sexual penetration, 27% reported attempts at forced sex and 44% reported the experience of unwanted sexual activities, the reports shows the enormity of sexual coercion among females in the society. More so, the study revealed that the causes of girl child defilement as perceived in Nigeria include: poverty, ignorance, gender inequality and nature of child’s residence. This corroborates with Bandura (2005) who opined that both young and old females could be sexually coerced due to some factors that are common with developing countries such as: poverty, ignorance, gender inequality and nature of child’s residence. Based on the findings of the study, the following recommendations were made: the government and security agencies should ensure that punitive measures for girl child defilement are followed. And the government and social workers should do all they can to educate the public on the consequences of girl child defilement.
