The Nigerian Police Force has attributed the rampant cases of missing young women to ritual practices to the rising hookup culture in the country.
Spokesperson, Ogun State Police Command, Omolola Odutola, made this known on Wednesday on Channels Television’s Morning Brief.
According to Odutola, young women aged 20 to 32 are the most affected.
During the discussion on “Hookup Culture: Impact on Youth Values and Relationships,” she added that many young people, especially males, believe that ritual killings are a way to become wealthy.
Her words: “This particular menace is very serious and I would like a lot of young people to understand the danger in the hookup culture.
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“Today, we have lots of reports of missing persons. By the time we start an investigation, not less than 10 young girls and ladies go missing daily.
“In-depth investigations also reveal that those cases are not by accidents. Most of them are connected to hookup channels and apps.
“They fall victim to strangers who causally invite them to unknown places, and eventually fall victim to being used for ritual purposes.
“Most cases of missing girls and ritual killings occurring in Ogun State of recent, I would like to say that it is not new.
“But as much as possible, the Ogun State Commissioner of Police has been able to tame these ugly incidents.”
Speaking on the causes of the menace, Odutola said, “It stems from the ugly perspective of young persons who believe that ritual killing could enrich them.
“We have some of these unscrupulous elements who deceive young people to get human skulls or human body parts, which they use for some kind of concoction to get them rich.
“That is why we are having advocacy and sensitization, to enlighten young persons to make them understand that engaging in ritual killings does not in any way make them rich.”
She noted that the police command is collaborating closely with the State Women Affairs Commission to tackle and curb the menace.
“The Ogun State government, particularly the Women Affairs Commission works in tandem with the police command by providing counselling sessions.
“Apart from that, whenever we have cases such as this if per adventure the girls escape the rituals, we also have a proper way of helping them go through the distress of mental health and anxiety they might have felt during the incident.
“The hookup culture is prevalent among young girls between the ages of 20 to about 32 years.
“The reason they get involved in this menace is because they feel they don’t get enough from their parents, and then the get-rich syndrome,” Odutola added.
Hookup culture refers to casual sexual relationships, like one-night stands, that often don’t involve emotional attachment or long-term commitment.