NIGERIA'S senate has inadvertently fixed the age of sexual consent at 11 after hurriedly passing the Sexual Offences Bill which prescribes life imprisonment for certain offences including rape or deliberately infecting another person with HIV/Aids. 

Sponsored by Senator Chris Anyanwu of Imo East, the bill also prescribes life imprisonment for anyone convicted if child sex tourism or gang rape. Among other things, it also prescribes 10 years imprisonment for incest, child pornography and a fine of N2m for a range of other sexual offences. 

Hurried past with over 40 other bills during the senate's last day in office, the Sexual Offences Bill pegged the legal age limit for sex at 11. It prescribes life imprisonment for rapists and those who have sexual intercourse with children below 11 years as it sought to redefine and consolidate existing laws on sexual offences. 

Senate president David Mark congratulated Senator Anyanwu, who sponsored the bill and expressed delight on the efforts of the committee to evolve a stronger law against sexual violations. Senator Anyanwu listed some of the sexual offences captured by the bill to include gang rape, lacing drinks with drugs with intent to sexually abuse, deliberately infecting partner with HIV and other diseases. 

Senator Anyanwu said: "The Sexual Offences Law seeks to make a comprehensive legislation on sexual offences by criminalising certain acts such as sexual tourism, child pornography and cultural and religious sexual offences in our criminal jurisprudence. The new law also provides for effective witness protection programme to protect victims and witnesses in trial for sexual offences." 

Others offences included child sex tourism, sexual harassment and prostitution of persons with mental disabilities. Senator Anyanwu added that passage of the bill is a fulfilment of her mission in the senate. Nigeria has some of the most lax sexual offences laws in Africa as certain parts of the penal code permit men top beat their wives. 

Also, in July last year, the Nigerian Senate approved a bill sponsored by former Zamfara State governor Ahmed Yerima, that would recognise child brides as adults, effectively legalising marriages to minors. Senator Yerima, who himself married a 13-year old Egyptian girl in 2010, has long been an advocate of child marriages, claiming it is Islamic and sanctioned by the Koran. 

In December 2013, he divorced his 17 Egyptian bride and married a new 15 year old girl but because no law in Nigeria forbids it, he had not committed any crime. With the new law being passed, what Senator Yerima did is not illegal and anyone who marries a 12 year old girl is not falling foul of the law. It is not yet clear if President Muhammadu Buhari will veto the law based on this lapse.