By Olasunkanmi Akoni
LAGOS — Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, yesterday, signed a bill into law, which allows for the prosecution and jailing of any man who impregnates and deserts any woman.
The bill presented to the governor by the state’s Commissioner of Justice and Attorney General, Mr. Ade Ipaye, at Government House, Ikeja, was among three other bills presented for the governor’s assent.
Other bills include amendments to provisions of the Emergency Management Agency, EMA, Law and the Administration of Criminal Justice.
Fashola, while assenting to the bills, said the various amendments to the laws were needed to tackle the problem of crime and delay in administration of justice in the state.
He said the enactment of the laws represented the commitment of the state government to building strong institutions, that could tackle crime and corruption, which had crippled the country.
He added that the country needed strong legislation to fight corruption and moral laxity.
Fashola explained that the Criminal Code Law, used in the state before now was enacted in 1914 by the colonial masters, saying that such laws and their provisions had since become obsolete and could not address challenges posed by present realities.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/08/fashola-signs-law-against-abandonment-of-pregnant-women/
LAGOS — Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, yesterday, signed a bill into law, which allows for the prosecution and jailing of any man who impregnates and deserts any woman.
The bill presented to the governor by the state’s Commissioner of Justice and Attorney General, Mr. Ade Ipaye, at Government House, Ikeja, was among three other bills presented for the governor’s assent.
Other bills include amendments to provisions of the Emergency Management Agency, EMA, Law and the Administration of Criminal Justice.
Fashola, while assenting to the bills, said the various amendments to the laws were needed to tackle the problem of crime and delay in administration of justice in the state.
He said the enactment of the laws represented the commitment of the state government to building strong institutions, that could tackle crime and corruption, which had crippled the country.
He added that the country needed strong legislation to fight corruption and moral laxity.
Fashola explained that the Criminal Code Law, used in the state before now was enacted in 1914 by the colonial masters, saying that such laws and their provisions had since become obsolete and could not address challenges posed by present realities.
What would happen to a woman or a girl that lied against a man that he's responsible for the pregnant only to discover that the man was innocent. but the girl wanted to force herself on the man perhaps the man is rich? What about the law against the sugar Madam that target young men in town and get pregnant for them without the husband knowing about it? What would happen to a girl that get pregnant to her boss in the office in other to send her boss' wife packing? and many, many more...............
ReplyDeleteLast time I checked, there is still DNA testing as evidence to validate or vindicate any claims by a woman. I suppose the women will have to wait until their children are born before they will make their claims.
ReplyDeleteIts really shameful as a Nigerian to read the comments of my countrymen. Na waooo!!!, so the men are just ready to sleep, sex whatever; they have to brains, no judgement, no ethics, no morals, no self control?
How can our men be confortable with presenting themselves as clueless and ready to pass the blame, and we wonder that Nigeria is as it is?
For me, this bill is nothing but taking responsibility for your
actions...no stupid excuses. Men have all the power in their hands to determine the outcome of their sexual actions, If they dont want to impregnate any woman, let them take the available necessary precautions or better still let them dont sleep with them at all!!!
May God deliver our good women from sweet tonged, lying, deceitful men and our good men from the power of seductive and conniving women. Amen.
The law on pregnant women is the right law in the right direction. It is better nothing at all. Let us see how this works. As time goes on we will make changes as needed.
ReplyDeleteI hate to say it this way, but this is the most ambiguous and stupid version of "parental responsibility" law anywhere. Fashola and Lagos made the terrible mistake of legislating on abandoning a pregnant woman rather than [legislate] on abandoning a child. Legally, until a child is born the man's legal obligation towards the woman is up in the air. So what will happen now; a pregnant woman shows up at a police station and tells cops she was abandoned by the dude who got her pregnant and the police rushes out to arrest anyone the woman fingers. Lagos and Fashola better have huge bank account to pay for damages that will arise from false arrest and prosecution because many gullible women will now finger the most resourceful dude in the pack [of men] she slept with. “Her words against his” which is what this law seems to be about, is not enough grounds to make binding legal decision. Of course laws are usually written with the ambient notion to make things right however [laws] need to be written in a way that doesn't give dubious people the latitude to exploit others. Parental responsibility law has always been written to protect offspring - that is a child or children the man brought into this world. The implicit notion being that a child is born; paternity could be determined via DNA in case of dispute, and after that the man's legal obligation [child support] starts. Usually the child support is [fixed] amount of money the man pays either directly to the woman or through state agency. A woman that slept with a man made freewill adult decision therefore the state can only step in to protect the child that needs protection. I see extortion and shakedown written all over this law.
ReplyDeleteThank you sir for bringing in this most pertinent of points.
ReplyDeleteChild support would be the best form of birth control particularly for the men. But then DNA would be needed to establish paternity before the courts award child support to the custodial parent.
Nigeria does not have a DNA lab and so I would like to ask the governor how his government will determine paternity. By sending these samples down to South Africa?
Mr. Raji Fashola is a respectable man considering the diligence
ReplyDeletewith which he has carried out his duties as governor of Lagos State against all odds, but in this his second term in office it is beginning to look like he has surrounded himself with those who are only interested in populist legislations without allowing common sense to dictate.
First it was a law to ban landlords from collecting over a
year’s rent in advance without providing an alternative cover for the tenants the law was to protect; if government refuses to provide cheap accommodation or build “real” low-cost housing for the masses, how can it regulate what shylock landlords should do with the homes they built with their money? Low-cost houses built by government for now are only available to the rich & affordable by
the rich. Without any unenforceable legislation, rickety Molue buses were pushed out of Lagos metropolis because government provided BRT buses which are better and safer for the masses to commute in and the old soldier Molue buses went into voluntary extinction; without the BRT alternative, what legislation could
have pushed Molue buses out of Lagos roads? Somebody should tell the amiable governor that landlords are ready to accept one month rent with 3years service charge in advance and the service charge could be any amount for services like: landlord’s wife’s visit, landlord’s gutter inspection, bedroom inspection charge etc…etc….. After all, there is no law regulating what service charge should be and the amount. Senseless legislation!!!
This legislation about to be signed by the governor is another one,
even prostitutes now can make a claim of being pregnant after all this new law “allows for the prosecution and jailing of any man who impregnates and deserts any woman”. On a lighter side, this law will be better enacted in Abuja and a lot of our legislators will end up in jail but then this is a Lagos State law, how do you prove where the union took place, will there be witnesses or is it just about whatever the woman says? Akute is an area in Ogun State but 95% of people there work in Lagos and can’t really see themselves as living in Ogun State. We must continue to do everything humanly possible to protect our women but another senseless law like this one will only compound the problems. LAGOS IS STILL PART OF NIGERIA IRRESPECTIVE OF HOW WE FEEL OR DREAM, THIS SHOULD NOT BE A STATE LAW; THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD RATHER ENCOURAGE WOMEN ASSOCIATIONS AND GROUPS TO PRESS FOR A DISCUSSION OF ISSUES LIKE THIS AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL. PLEASE MR. RAJI FASHOLA, GIVE OUR LAZY & JOBLESS NATIONAL ASSEMBLY MEMBERS SOME WORK TO DO, SEND THIS BILL TO THEM THROUGH THE STATE’S REPRESENTATIVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Where do we get the full law? Would like to read it and see what it says about a married man getting another man's wife pregnant but denying her. Would the husband be liable for sending the woman out of his house or will the other man be liable?
ReplyDeleteYou can see how ridiculous this law is that we have to to this extent.
Those who think the law against abandoned or denied pregnancy belong to the jungle where animals pregnate themselves without any need to claim fatherhood are not better than animals. When your daughter, sister, female cousin and other female species in your family are pregnated, the need for this kind of law would suddenly become relevant to you. In order to continue developing like other societies across the world, our society needs to begin to establish some order and responsibility. If you grow up and discover that your mother's pregnancy of you was in dispute or your so called "father" ran away to avoid claiming your mother's pregnancy, you will then appreciate Fashola's new bill.
ReplyDeletesend the man to jail or compare him to take care of the woman and the baby?
ReplyDelete