Lai: Information Minister reveals FG’s plan to curb ritual killings

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed says it plans to inaugurate a national sensitisation campaign against ritual murders soon.

Lai Mohammed said this on Monday in Abuja when he paid official visit to the headquarters of Daily Trust Newspaper.

According to him, the government is concerned over the rising cases of ritual murders by unscrupulous people, most of them very young, who are seeking to get rich at all cost.

“For those who may still be in doubt, ritual killings have assumed a worrisome dimension in recent years.

According to an NGO, Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND), 150 women and girls have been killed for ritual purposes between Jan. 2018 and Dec. 2021.

“Recently, in Ogun State, four young men, one of whom is 18 years old, murdered their 20-year-old female friend for money rituals.

“One of them said they learnt about using human parts for money rituals from social media.

“Of course, you are also aware of a case involving a female student of the University of Jos who was allegedly killed by her boyfriend for ritual purposes,’’ he said.

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In raising national awareness on the scourge, Lai said the National Orientation Agency (NOA), was already partnering with religious and traditional organisations as well as Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs).

He said the body would forge behavioural change, especially among the youth, some of whom were afflicted by the get-rich-quick syndrome.

The minister noted that some had blamed Nollywood for the scourge for featuring money rituals in some of its movies which negatively influenced the vulnerable youth.

To mitigate this, Lai said he had directed the National Film and Video Censors Board to take the issue into consideration while performing its role of censoring and classifying films and videos.

The minister said he also directed the board to engage with stakeholders in the film industry in order to express the concerns of the government and Nigerians on the need to eschew money ritual content in their movies.

He appealed to religious, traditional and political leaders to be part of efforts to re-orientate the youth in particular, to realize that success comes through hard work, not money rituals.