The Federal Government has launched the first national sexual offenders register, setting up a database of those convicted for sexual violence.
The “Sexual Offender Register” will contain the names of all those prosecuted for sexual violence since 2015, is aimed at curbing the rising spate of abuse in the country.
The record will be available online to better help the public, state bodies and police conduct background checks and identify repeat offenders.
Suspects who are cleared will also be recorded in a part of the register only available to law enforcement agencies, amid concerns by campaigners that the majority of sexual offenders escape prosecution due to failings in the justice system.
At the event which took place in Abuja, the Minister for Humanitarian Affairs, Sadiya Farouq, commended the initiative, saying it will go a long way to stop those engaged in violence against women.
“The register will serve as a strategy to stop those engaged in violence against women,” she said.
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The minister said the humanitarian and security crisis in northeast caused by a long drawn out activities of terrorists had seen a rise in cases of sexual abuse which needed to be addressed.
Also commending the initiative was United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, who insisted that offenders must be made to face the law.
Ordinary citizens will be able to access the register, which is managed by Nigeria’s National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking Persons, NAPTIP, and is funded mainly by the European Union.
An initial group of 15 NGOs will monitor police and media reports across Nigeria and update the register on a monthly basis.
According to the United Nations children agency UNICEF, one in four Nigerian women are sexually abused before they turn 18 – and the majority of cases of sexual abuse in country are not prosecuted.
Meanwhile, two states in the country, Lagos and Ekiti already have sexual offenders register.
