A member of the National Council of Child Rights Advocate Nigeria, NACCRAN, Dr. Funmilayo Ogunleye-Hancock, has expressed displeasure over the increasing number of rape cases in the country.

The US-based Child Rights activist strongly blamed the Nigerian film industry, Nollywood, for the ugly trend.

Speaking recently at a press conference in Abuja, Hancock noted that Nollywood should have been used as a tool to get rid of the menace or reduce it to the barest minimum in the society instead of increasing it.

While lamenting that the reverse was the case as Nollywood movies were now being used as tools to fuel rape in the society, Hancock expressed her displeasure, stating that her intention as a member of Nigerians in Diaspora was to find out the needs of the nation and how those in the Diaspora can help, particularly in the area of children, poverty as well as proffering solutions to the problems.

She said, “In a lot of our movies these days, we intend to add rape scenes in them, which is not helpful, and I don’t like that, because if we are talking about getting rid of that situation, we shouldn’t be fuelling it.

“It’s just like almost every movie that I watch, there is always a rape scene, and I think we are promoting that further because the more you watch such scene, the more it goes in your heart.

“If it is something that we are trying to get rid of, we will express so in our movies, because in most movies, they do them without repercussion that is the thing that bothers me most.

“It is one thing to show a woman is raped, it is another thing to show there is a repercussion.

“But in these movies, they are raped, and the victims are also penalised…we see a lot of such movies these days, but the movie industry can help out in this situation because many people watch movies.

“Even if the government is not able to do much to help, our movie industry should be able to quit promoting fraud and rape. The fight against rape should be taken seriously.

“Though some people are perpetrating the act too in America, the difference between America and Nigeria is that the laws are implemented and no one is above the law,” the Ekiti State-born child rights activist noted.