The Federal Government (FG) has announced plans to launch a nationwide sensitization campaign against ritual killings. This was disclosed on Monday by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed during his working visit to the Daily Trust newspaper in Abuja.
The Minister also cited a recent report by the Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND) which claimed that 150 women and girls were killed for ritual purposes across Nigeria between January 2018 and December 2021.
He said that ritual killings have reached a worrisome dimension and confessions of some money ritual suspects revealed that they learned the evil act on social media.
Mohammed said, “The fact that some of these ritualists said they learned the money-making tricks from social media platforms has given a further fillip to our campaign to rid social media of unwholesome content.
“Many have also blamed Nollywood for featuring money rituals in some of its movies, saying this has negatively influenced the vulnerable youths. To mitigate this, I have directed the National Film and Video Censors Board, the body set up to regulate the film and video industry in Nigeria, to take this issue into consideration while performing its roles of censoring and classifying films and videos.
“I have also directed NFVCB 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.”
According to him, the National Orientation Agency (NOA) is collaborating with religious, traditional groups, and Non- Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to forge behavioral change, especially among the youths who are most affected by the get-rich-quick syndrome.
He also said, “In the days ahead, the federal government plans to launch a national sensitization campaign against ritual murders. Ahead of that, however, we are calling on the media to please lend their strong voices to stamp out this growing menace.”
