113 Rap!sts Charge To Court In Lagos State

The Lagos State Government says it is
currently prosecuting suspected 113 rapists
at the High Court in the state, even as
Governor Babatunde Fashola laments rising
cases of rape in the state.
This was disclosed by the Attorney General and
Commissioner for Justice, Ade Ipaye on Monday
at the signing of the bill on Lagos State
Infrastructure and Asset Management into law
and the Signing of Executive Order to Establish
s*x Offenders Register at the State House, Ikeja,
Lagos, southwest Nigeria.
According to Ipaye, four local governments-
Alimosho, Kosofe, Agege and Oshodi-Isolo have
been identified as the councils with the highest
cases of sexual and gender-based violence, in
the state.
“We have monitored 113 sexual violence cases
currently at the High Court. The team is
working actively to ensure prompt prosecution
of these cases. The major aim of the s*x
Offenders Monitoring Programme and the
Mandated Reporter policy is to reduce repeat
cases by providing names and personal details
of convicted s*x offenders in the state to a
central database.
“The database will be accessible to individuals
and organizations that need information. For
example, school proprietors who want to
recruit can access this register as a form of
background check.
“The Mandated Reporter policy will make it
compulsory for all State School Administrators,
Counsellors, Teachers, Social Welfare Officers
and any other official of the state government
having any dealings with children to report any
suspected or actual child abuse or neglect to the
Attorney-General’s office,” he said.
Ipaye added: “It is envisaged that the Lagos
State s*x Offenders Register will be open and
maintained by the Lagos State Ministry of
Justice in partnership with the Lagos State
Judiciary, the Nigerian Prisons and the Nigerian
Police.”
Speaking, Fashola urged all those people in
such local governments where cases of sexual
violence were on the increase to change their
ways as a society and as a community because
if they do not, the state government will not
hesitate to come after them.
He also charged operators of the private sector,
especially banks, to desist from the habit of
asking women they employ to go and bring
deposits that are impossible to come by in order
to keep their jobs.
“This is the time when women must rise up
and say no to those kinds of jobs. If they would
not send men on that type of mission, then you
must not go. Some of them are mission
impossible targets and so that is where
vulnerability comes. Why give a woman a big
job where she has to put her dignity on the line
in order to do it?” he asked.
He maintained that for him, the laws of the
states would not mature in the fullest sense
without the enforcement capacity and that this
is the time when Nigeria must have local and
state policing under the control of the territory
in which the offence is taking place to deal
with.
According to the Governor, if the only reason
why the nation embraces state police is to
protect the women and children, then it is for a
very good reason.
He tasked the electorate to use their votes to get
what they want from the parliamentarians.
He said now is the time for the voters,
especially the women, to extract the
commitment from their parliamentarians that
they would support a police formation that
helps to protect their rights.