Nigerians have demanded action against ritual killings, advocating for the police digital upgrade and empowerment, media campaigns, employment and education to assist in stemming the tide.

They made the demand while responding to the survey conducted by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Rivers on the upsurge of ritual killings, especially in the Southern parts.

They identified power, unemployment, eroded value systems, greed, cultism, the quest for fast money, and position in society, among others, as factors promoting ritual killings.

Speaking in Akwa Ibom, Aniekan Brown, a lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Uyo, attributed the causative factors to the high level of unemployment, poor socialisation, the influence of those who got wealthy through such means and fear of the poor state of the economy, among others. 

Mr Brown also said the government should create avenues for massive employment of the youths, encourage education and censor home videos containing ritual killers’ success stories.

He also called for the implementation of the existing laws and sanctions to deter offenders, lamenting that state governors have shied away from encouraging the execution of death sentences.

Similarly, a clergyman, Simon Udoh, of the Church of Christ, Uyo, also re-echoed moral decadence in society as part of the causes of ritual killings.

Mr Udoh accused some religious leaders of abandoning the teaching of morals in churches to concentrate on preaching materialism.

“Ritual killing itself is an indication of some dead of the norm; standard acceptability of life is fallen,” he said.

Mr Udoh alleged that some traditional leaders were corrupt and criminally minded, too, saying they should not be given the issue of security to handle in the country.

He called for the adoption of digital and artificial intelligence in the country’s security sector, saying that security has gone beyond carrying guns and running around town in the name of securing people.

In Cross River, Grace Etuk, the Head of the Department of Social Works, University of Calabar, said massive employment of the youth would bring down the rate of crime, especially ritual killing.

‘’Whether they eventually get rich or not is another issue, but the chances of ritual killings will become slimmer if these youths are gainfully employed and make a living for themselves,” she said.

Ms Etuk, however, said the problem was not so much the poor security architecture of the nation but the poor awareness and greed of some Nigerians, especially girls.

‘’This is because the police cannot follow people to their private meetings where these ritual killings take place,’’ Ms Etuk said.

On his part, Solomon Eremi, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC) spokesperson for Cross River Command said greed is the major factor responsible for ritual killings.

Mr Eremi called for the review and implementation of the nation’s existing laws and expressed the need for stiffer penalties.

Similarly, Effiok Nyok of Partnership for Peace in the Niger Delta, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), said that eroded value systems and poor sense of justice contributed to ritual killings.

He claimed that a situation where people took lives repeatedly, yet there were no convictions of the ritual killers, meant that ‘’the nation has lost its sense of Justice.’’

Mr Nyok said the police were not to be blamed as they were underfunded, adding that instituting a regional security outfit was no solution since they were the same people who would man the offices.

In Rivers, Bosinde Araikpe, a security relations consultant, said the crime was driven by a combination of socio-cultural, economic, and psychological factors.

“We have also seen instances where some politicians and businesspeople are allegedly involved in human rituals to gain influence, power, or financial success.,” he claimed.

In his remarks, Chibuisi Okonkwo, a security consultant, called for job creation and skill acquisition programmes to reduce the desperation for quick wealth.   

He advocated for the establishment of a community surveillance and reporting system to encourage residents to alert law enforcement about suspicious activities.

“This includes setting up neighbourhood watch groups to monitor and expose ritualistic practices, as well as monitoring herbalists and spiritualists to prevent them from engaging in ritual-related activities,” he added.

SP Grace Iringe-Koko, spokesperson for the police command in Rivers, stated that although the command had not received any reports of ritual killing in the past year, it remained prepared to tackle the crime. 

Ms Iringe-Koko stressed the importance of instilling moral values in children and observed that many young people were no longer interested in education or learning a trade.

“It is important for individuals to inform family members of their whereabouts so that, in the event they become incommunicado, their families will know where to begin to search for them,” she advised. 

(NAN)