Don seeks enactment of law to criminalise paternity fraud

A scholar at the Department of Adult Education, Faculty of Education, University of Ibadan, Dr. Abiola Adiat Omokhabi, has called for the enactment of laws that would criminalise paternity fraud and revisiting  of the prescribed punishment for rape offenders in Nigeria.

Omokhabi made the call while delivering the  Faculty lecture with the theme: ‘Navigating  beyond the Present in a Familiar Terrain: Emergent Phenomena in Social Welfare Discourse’,  which took place at the Faculty Lecture Theatre.

She said the need to enact the anti-paternity fraud became imperative because “there is no single Nigerian law that makes paternity fraud illegal, despite the fact that reports of it are available”.

The don said: ‘’There is no single Nigerian law that makes paternity fraud illegal, despite the fact that reports of it are common there. But there ought to be a law making it illegal to misidentify a non-biological father on a birth certificate or other public record.

‘’Women who participate in paternity fraud will face criminal misrepresentation or perjury charges during the paternity proceedings, if such a law is passed. In addition to lowering sexual immorality, such a law would encourage married women in Nigeria to take responsibility for their sexual behaviour.’’

The university teacher also called for a revisit of  the law-prescribed punishment for rape offenders in Nigeria , saying: ‘’There is the urgent need for the National Assembly in Nigeria to revisit and make amendment to Section 358 of the Criminal Code Act on punishment of rape. Section 358 provides that “any person who commits the offence of rape is liable to imprisonment for life, with or without canning”. This provision appears not to have serve as deterrent to rape offender as rape has become a serious social problem of epidemic proportions.

‘’Therefore, it is recommended that other stiffer penalties should be added to life imprisonment sentence for convicted rape offers’’.She also recommended treasonable felony charges for insurgency, banditry and kidnapping.