Lagos convicts 206 persons for sexual offences

• Mobile court convicts 62,477 traffic offenders
The Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice, Mr. Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN), has disclosed that the state has added the names and information about 206 persons convicted of sexual offences in the state to the National Sexual Offenders Register, while the State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team also responded to 3,831 cases of domestic violence between April 2020 and April 2021.

Onigbanjo disclosed these on Wednesday while giving an account of the performance of the Lagos State Ministry of Justice at the 2021 ministerial press briefings in Alausa, Ikeja.

The attorney-general said that of the 3,831 reported cases of domestic violence, 2,629 involved adults while 1,202 of the cases involved children.

“A call centre number 08000333333 has been launched to respond to reports of gender-based violence and the state government will also be providing compensation and empowerment for survivors,” he said.

Onigbanjo added that the Public Advisory Centre of the Lagos State Ministry of Justice, between April 2020 and April 2021, rendered advice on 47,586 cases ranging from tenancy, pension claims, domestic violence, health matters and illegal demolition of properties.

“The Ministry’s Citizen Mediation Centre (CMC), within a year, resolved 9,686 cases out of 12,358. Recently the CMC Ojokoro-Ijaiye, on April 14, 2021 successfully restored a family back into their apartment after being locked out by the aggrieved landlord for 18-days.

“The Directorate of Citizens Rights resolved 1,640 petitions covering landlords and tenants, employer-employee matters and matrimonial disputes. The directorate also recovered N51,500,000 (fifty-one million, five hundred thousand naira) on behalf of complainants,” he said.

The commissioner disclosed that the mobile courts in the state, within a year, arrested, arraigned and convicted 62,477 traffic offenders.

He noted that during the period under review, 62,477 persons had faced the law over various traffic offences such as the use of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lane, street trading, driving against traffic, willful obstruction as well as violation of the COVID-19 regulations.

“The Mobile Courts sits on Saturdays at different locations across the state and deals largely with violators of COVID-19 regulations,” he said.

According to Onigbanjo, the Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had also issued 954 legal advice during the time frame.

“The DPP is currently prosecuting 1,860 cases at the high courts and magistrates’ courts, including 10 offenders who have been so far charged over attacks on officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA).

“The Community Service Unit of the DPP during the review period (April 2020 – April 2021), also supervised 557 community service sentences. The community service sentences were for street trading, loitering, fighting and environmental offences,” he said.