The Ogun State Government has proposed a new legal framework that abolishes the widely observed practice of waiting 24 hours before reporting missing persons, saying immediate action is critical to improving rescue efforts.
Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Oluwasina
Ogungbade, SAN, made this known on Tuesday during an interview on Eagle 102.5
FM, Ilese-Ijebu, monitored by DAILY POST in Abeokuta, explaining one of four
criminal justice bills approved by the Ogun State Executive Council for
transmission to the House of Assembly.
He disclosed that The Missing Persons Bill, among the GLOVES
Bill is intended to streamline police responses, providing a unified legal
framework for investigating missing persons cases.
According to him, the proposed Missing Persons Bill seeks to
remove delays that often hinder investigations and rescue operations.
“You probably would be aware of this practice where people
will report others as missing only to be advised to wait for 24 hours or 48
hours before coming. That now is being outlawed. There’s now a duty to report
as early as possible,” he said.
The Attorney General added that research has consistently
shown that the first 24 hours after a disappearance are crucial in locating
missing persons.
“Research has shown that the first 24 hours are crucial in
cases of missing persons,” he added.
Ogungbade explained that the proposed legislation would
impose penalties on individuals who fail to promptly report the disappearance
of persons whose whereabouts they are reasonably expected to know.
“And where a person who ought to report for example, a
father who knows his child is missing, or a mother who knows her daughter, or
somebody whose presence or location they should know is missing, fails to do
so, it carries a penalty under this law”
He disclosed that his office receives numerous reports of
missing persons across all age groups and lamented that existing laws do not
adequately empower law enforcement agencies to respond quickly.
He cited unresolved disappearance cases, including that of a
former student who reportedly went missing after leaving Olabisi Onabanjo
University to visit her boyfriend in Sagamu, as well as another woman who
disappeared in Ota.
According to him, investigators often encounter significant
delays in obtaining banking, telecommunications and other records needed to
trace missing persons.
“It’s been one challenge or the other getting access to data
that would help law enforcement to track their movements” he lamented.
To address these challenges, Ogungbade said the proposed law
would establish stronger collaboration between the Ministry of Justice, the
Nigeria Police Force and the judiciary to enable faster access to vital records
during investigations.
“There will be collaboration between my office and the
Office of the Commissioner of Police that expressly is stated in the bill and
also with the judiciary. This bill makes provision for the police or any law
enforcement agency to apply ex parte to get certain records from service
providers. But then in extreme cases, the police can write directly to the
person holding those records to make them available under penalty of law,” he
said.
He explained that the bill would also introduce rapid
response protocols for child abduction cases, including immediate alerts to
transport unions, motor parks and other relevant agencies once a child is
reported missing.
“My office will be working in concert with the commissioner
of police of Ogun state, putting certain people on standby. Because in most
cases, when you steal a child, you firstly have to transport that child outside
of Ogun state. So there’ll be protocols in place, for example, alerting all
major car parks, alerting transport unions,” he said.
Ogungbade expressed confidence that the proposed legislation
would set a new standard in Nigeria’s fight against ritual killings and human
sacrifice, describing it as a far-reaching intervention capable of addressing
the menace more effectively.
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