Lagos adds 206 convicts to Sexual Offenders Register

The Lagos State Ministry of Justice has added the details of 206 persons convicted of sexual offences between April 2020 and April 2021 to the Lagos State Sexual Offenders Register.

The Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN) revealed this on Wednesday at the Lagos State Ministry of Justice’s 2021 Ministerial Press Briefing.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Ministerial Press Briefing was themed: ‘Our journey between April 2020 and April 2021’.

Onigbanjo said the offenders were prosecuted by the state’s Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

“The office of the DPP issued 954 legal notices and is prosecuting 1860 cases at the high courts, magistrates’ courts, including offenders who attacked LASTMA officials – 10 charged so far,” Onigbanjo said.

He explained that the DPP has secured the convictions of 281 at the state’s high courts for various offences.

“206 out of the 281 convictions are sexually related offences. The 206 are now in our sex offenders register,” Onigbanjo added.

The A-G said the Sexual Offenders Register is part of measures by the administration of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to enforce its zero tolerance policy for domestic and sexual related offences in Lagos.

Other measures include the launch of a call centre to attend to reports of gender-based violence via the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT).

NAN reports that Lagos State Government established its Sexual Offenders’ Register via an Executive Order on December 1, 2015.

The Sexual Offenders Register contains the names of all those prosecuted for sexual violence since 2015.

Currently, only Lagos and Ekiti, have Sexual Offenders Registers containing databases of individuals convicted of sexual offences.