Out of the blues, sexual molestation, especially rape and incest is suddenly on the increase in Nigeria. Presently, many Nigerians have lost their once cherished values of decency and responsibility, in view of several cases of adult males defiling young underaged girls being widely reported daily in both the print and electronic media. Most times, these acts of betrayal of trust are perpetrated mostly by close neighbours, uncles, pastors, imams, teachers, fathers etc. Benefitting from documentary data accessed from the Internet/web and national newspapers, In-depth Interviews (IDIs) were conducted with some personnel of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and some victims, Key Informants techniques (KIIs) were used to elicit information from the Police and Courts for the study. The paper submits that sometimes, the victim is cajoled and deceitfully taken advantage of; oftentimes, it is forceful, violent rape that leaves the victim physically and psychologically bruised and scarred. In extreme cases, the victims -especially those who resist, lose their lives or are maimed for life. The study identifies that extant provisions in both the Criminal and Penal Codes in Nigeria, on child sexual abuse, are not stringent enough, while the Nigerian Child Rights Act (CRA) ( 2003) is yet to be enacted by many States of the Federation, and also the attending issue of delay in the Courts. The Police are equally hampered by lack of specialized training/skills and poor logistics for quick responses. The study strongly suggests that child sexual molestation can be significantly reduced through aggressive mass sensitization programmes; the formal punishment for sexually abusing a child should be quite severe and even to the very limit permitted by the law, to serve as an effective deterrent.

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The efforts at reducing Nigerian rapid population growth are anchored in strategies to achieve fertility decline. These approaches have yielded negligible impact as fertility preference remains high among most Nigerian women of reproductive age who are still giving birth to more than an average of four children previously recommended by a national policy. Studies have focused on fertility preference among various groups of childbearing women, but knowledge of the issue among high-parity women needs to be further explored. Employing chi-square and binary logistic regression for analyses, the data on women who had at least four living children were extracted from the 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (2018 NDHS)to examine the associated factors of fertility intentions. The results indicate significant relationships of fertility intentions with women’s current age, region of residence, level of education, and husband’s desire for more children. Other predictors of fertility intentions are ideal number of children, children ever born, and number of living children. The study concludes that having four children is not compatible with the desired level of fertility for women due to the influence of the identified predictors. The study recommends proper advocacy on socially and economically desirable fertility levels for women.

Teenage pregnancy has become a pest in the society. Underage girls are caught in the jumble of being put into the family way. This has become widespread in the society and has led many young ladies to early graves as a result of failed abortions and which have led many to drop out of school. During the COVID-19 pandemic period control measures like closing of schools, restriction of movement, social distancing etc. were put in place in Nigeria to curtail the spread of the virus. And this period has become very challenging for girls and women. In-depth Interviews (IDIs) were conducted with 30 respondents who have experienced unwanted pregnancies using purposive sampling technique. The major finding is that the COVID-19 pandemic period is particularly a dangerous time for teenage girls because of the state of the economy, livelihood, hunger, and health crises worldwide. Several factors like influence of peer groups, lack of sex education, idleness, financial constraints, media influence, hawking etc have been attributed to the incessant increase of adolescent pregnancy at this period. Implications are that many of these teenagers will drop out of school which could lead to low educational attainment, marital instability, low income later in life, sexually transmitted diseases or vesico vaginal fistula (VVF) during child birth, social exclusion, unemployment, high mortality rate and early child marriage. The paper recommends; appropriate counselling, abstinence promotion, contraception information, sex education and school-completion strategies etc.