The discussion on the activities of the child molesters has been on center stage in literature over the years. Nigeria as an independent nation has her own share of this psychological disorder. The rampant nature of these child predators has been at the worrisome stage in the past decades. It should be noted that this menace has no boundaries- be it territory, nation, culture, religion and status. Based on this premise, this discussion would try as much as possible to avoid any form of sentiments and constructively address the malady that has eaten deep into the sanity of our society. Nobody will ever belief that as result of our value, belief rooted in our traditional make up and our commitment to religion that a father would be having sex with his own biological daughter at the age of say 5 year or thereabout. Even to the extent that he continues in such abominable act until the girl becomes pregnant as a teenager. If you ask that father why he engaged himself in the disgraceful act, he would quickly blame the devil. If a father can do that to his own daughter, who can be trusted?

Alas! We are in the 21st century. There have been several cases of such abominable act. Who is a pedophile? What is pedophilia? How can we protect our children from the serial pedophile? How do we help the victims of such acts to move on with their lives? This article will do justice to all these questions raised.

Pedophilia refers to a psychosocial disorder, generally affecting adults who have sexual interest in children or carry out sex activities with children. A person with such psychosocial disorder may be a male or female while it is common among the males. In another word the victims of this act are mostly females. A pedophile is an adult (male or female) who is sexually attracted to only children. But the condition is rare in women. There are several factors which have been underlined as the causes of pedophilic disorder such as sexual abuse or neglecting experience during childhood, certain alterations of brain structure and functions that may be the result of neurodevelopmental problems occurring in utero or in early childhood.

Protecting our children from sex predators is a task that must be done by all parents. Parents have greater responsibilities to help their children not to be victims of pedophile who are on rampage. This starts from who you entrust the care of your children to when you are not around. In this contemporary world, both parents are now career people. Many leave homes as early as 4.00 am in the morning and return as late as 11.00 pm. It is the responsibility of both the father and the mother to decide who to stay at home to take care of the children. Most of the time, victims are molested by trusted family members or friends. Those of us that engage the services of maid should also be very careful. If you have taken care of the home front, then the next place is the school, the school your children is attending is also very important. Apart from the fact that you monitor the activities of the school as regard your children you also need to enroll your child in a school where moral values and your beliefs are upheld.

In addition to the above, there is need for parents to engage their children in sex education at the tender age. For instance, it is not wrong to tell a boy or a girl of any age that no man or woman should put them on his or her lap or caress them whether in the open or close door most especially the former. It is not even a crime to tell your children not to allow anybody to touch their private parts under any circumstance. Also, it is acceptable, if parents tell their wards to shout for help if any of the situations mentioned happens to them. The spiritual aspect is also very important, teach them in the way of the Lord and be a good example in deeds and words. Commit them also into God’s hands day and night.

To those children who have been victims of such act, they may be around us, we must not let it be put under the carpet. We must let justice take its course no matter who is involved. That is the beginning of healing for such children. Also, they should be referred to a guidance psychologist who can help them to get over the traumatic experience.

Finally, it should be joint efforts of the government, NGO, international bodies and the entire populace to put stop to this menace against humanity. There should be conscious and continuous sensitization that involves the religious bodies and traditional institutions on the danger of pedophilia in our society.