By Peace Udugba
The Ogun State Government has proposed legislation to abolish the long-standing practice of waiting 24 hours before reporting a missing person, saying immediate reporting is crucial to improving rescue efforts and increasing the chances of locating victims.
The Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Oluwasina Ogungbade (SAN), disclosed this on Tuesday during an interview on Frontline on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu, while explaining one of four criminal justice bills recently approved by the Ogun State Executive Council for transmission to the House of Assembly.
Ogungbade said the proposed Missing Persons Bill is designed to create a unified legal framework for investigating missing persons cases, remove bureaucratic delays and strengthen law enforcement’s ability to respond swiftly.
He explained that the bill would outlaw the common practice of asking families to wait 24 or 48 hours before reporting a disappearance.
“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.
According to the Attorney-General, studies have shown that the first 24 hours after a person goes missing are the most critical for successful rescue operations.
“Research has shown that the first 24 hours are crucial in cases of missing persons,” he added.
The proposed legislation will also impose penalties on individuals who fail to promptly report the disappearance of someone 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 is missing—fails to do so, it carries a penalty under this law,” Ogungbade stated.
He noted that his office receives numerous reports of missing persons involving both adults and children, but existing laws often delay investigations because security agencies face difficulties obtaining financial, telecommunications and other records needed to trace victims.
“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 the problem, the bill provides for stronger collaboration between the Ministry of Justice, the Nigeria Police Force and the judiciary, allowing investigators to obtain court orders more quickly to access relevant records. In emergency situations, law enforcement agencies would also be empowered to request such records directly from service providers, with legal penalties for non-compliance.
Ogungbade added that the legislation would introduce rapid response protocols for child abduction cases, including immediate alerts to transport unions, motor parks and other strategic stakeholders to prevent abducted children from being moved out of the state.
“My office will be working in concert with the Commissioner of Police in Ogun State, putting certain people on standby.
In most cases, when you steal a child, you firstly have to transport that child outside Ogun State. So there will be protocols in place, including alerting major motor parks and transport unions,” he said.
He said the bill is intended to eliminate bureaucratic bottlenecks, promote faster investigations and improve collaboration among security agencies, particularly as discussions on state policing continue.
The Attorney-General also revealed that the Ogun State Government is proposing a separate law specifically targeting ritual killings.
He explained that while suspects are currently prosecuted for murder or tampering with human remains, there is no law that directly criminalises the use of human beings or human parts for ritual purposes.
“What we have all been doing in Ogun State, and I believe in other states, is to charge persons involved in ritual killings for murder and, in some cases, for tampering with human remains. We normally get the sentence of death, but that does not actually address the root issues. We feel that by having a law that specifically criminalises rituals involving the use of human parts, we can tackle the problem more effectively,” he said.
Ogungbade expressed confidence that the proposed legislation would become the first of its kind in Nigeria and strengthen the country’s legal response to ritual killings and human sacrifice.
“It will be a first in Nigeria and I am convinced that it will be far-reaching, at least to deal once and for all with this menace of human sacrifice,” he said.
