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 enactedlaw is expected to be curative of the ills of the society. The rights of women and the girl-child have in recent timesbeen at the front burner of rights agitation globally. As such the rights of women are not different from those ofthe entire comity of human in general. However, it is observed that certain laws in relation to women tend toportray women as less human. It is a thing of concern that some provision of laws enacted with the aim ofprotecting human rights, most often, turned out to legalize or codify the violation of the rights especially of womenand 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 ageof marriage, rape or consent to sexual intercourse and the justification for inflicting grievous bodily hurt on thewoman (wife). The research recommends that the Kogi State Penal Code Law, 2019 be repealed immediately tobring it in tandem with global best practices in the protection of the rights of women and the girl-child.