TheCable

Hadiza Balarabe, deputy governor of Kaduna state, says the law to castrate rapists was enacted to serve both as a deterrent to perpetrators and to punish offenders.

Balarabe said this on Thursday at a town hall meeting organised by the Hausa service of Voice of America (VOA).

In September, Nasir el-Rufai, the governor, signed the Kaduna State Penal Code (Amendment) Law 2020, which prescribed surgical castration for male perpetrators, and removal of fallopian tubes for female rapists, who target victims under the age of 14.

The state government also introduced the sex offenders register to “name and shame offenders”.

Earlier in 2016, el-Rufai inaugurated the state’s first sexual assault referral centre to provide psycho-social counselling, forensic examination, medical treatment and legal services for victims of sexual assault.

Speaking on Thursday, Balarabe said the government has added more referral centres, increasing the number of locations in the state to four — Yusuf Dantsoho Memorial Hospital, Tudun Wada, Kaduna; Gwamna Awan Hospital at Nasarawa, Kaduna; Hajiya Gambo Sawaba Memorial Hospital, Zaria, and Sir Patrick Yakowa Hospital, Kafanchan.

She also noted that the government has established a transit centre for victims of gender-based violence at Barnawa for counselling and psycho-social support.