![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/towncryyers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Prostitutes-on-the-street-qed.ng_.png?fit=1024%2C556&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nRelying on the statistics by the National Agency for the\nProhibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), the Nigeria\u2019s lower house\nasserted that between 20,000 and 30,000 Nigerian girls are sex slaves, with 50\nadditional girls being added to the list everyday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Looking at the tactics used for trafficking victims, the\nHouse stated that many of the victims were taken away from Nigeria, some in\nschool uniforms; while those victims trafficked to Mali go unaccompanied and ar\n\u201cway-billed\u201d through Cotonou. The victims whose destinations are Mali, are\ntrafficked mainly to the mining areas in the South and Central part of Mali,\nbut a substantial number are trafficked to rebel held areas in the North of\nMali, where they stand the risk of being radicalised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The House intelligence also revealed that the Nigerian\nAmbassador to Burkina Faso, Ramatu Ahmed, alerted that no fewer than 10,000\nNigerian women, mainly under-age girls, are forced into prostitution in\nOuagadougou and other mining camps across West Africa. Similarly, other victims\nof trafficking are deceived by friends and relatives to leave Nigeria for\ngreener pastures (mostly domestic work, hair dressing or sales) in Malaysia;\nonly to discover later that they will be used for sex trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What is responsible for the increasing rate of human\ntrafficking from Nigeria? While the House blamed Nigerian security agencies at\nthe border, particularly the point between Nigeria and Benin Republic at\nSeme-Krake, which is notoriously porous for not taking action to curb the\npractice; despite numerous reports and pictures of notorious trafficking sent\nto the agencies, experts blame it on an unhappy land, a land where the lowly\nplaced majority can hardly live let alone thrive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Therefore, one cause of human trafficking is widespread\npoverty. The phenomenon is further aided by ignorance, peer pressure and a\nfalse hope of life abundant abroad. This is compounded by insecurity of lives,\na weak legal system, porous borders, corrupt government officials and the\ninvolvement of international organised criminal networks. There are also cases\nof false marriage proposals from men to women who plan to sell trafficked\nvictims into bondage as well as the practice of entrusting poor children to\nmore affluent friends or relatives, which creates vulnerability. Disturbingly,\nsome parents also commoditise and sell their children, not just for the money,\nbut also in the hope that those children would escape chronic poverty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This, of course, is a sign of the breakdown of cherished\nfamily values, of greed nurtured by poverty and an untold moral decadence that\nhas afflicted the country. Nigeria certainly has not done right by her\nproductive population. No infrastructure for self-actualisation and no succour\nfrom the state by way of institutionalised mechanisms for hope. This failure is\ntherefore propelling people to embark on suicide missions in all directions.\nSo, the pervasive wave of illegal migration could be blamed on the unacceptable\nrate of unemployment in the country, an inefficient and corrupt law enforcement\nsystem that is ill-equipped to fight crime, one that is often in collusion with\ntraffickers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unfortunately, trafficked victims are mainly subjected to\nforced labour and forced prostitution in the places they thought would give\nthem hope. Many have died in transit as in the case of 26 female Nigerian\nmigrants, between the ages of 14 and 18, whose bodies were recovered from the\nMediterranean by a Spanish Warship, Cantabria in 2017, and eventually taken to\nthe Southern Italian Port of Salerno.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Against this background, the House is commended for being\nsensitive to one of the issues affecting the lowly placed in the nation; and\nfor mandating the Committee on Human Rights to conduct an investigation into\nall aspects of sex slavery and recommend appropriate budgeting and legislative\nmeasures, including sanctions and cooperation with fellow African countries, to\nstem the tide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Similarly, the House has urged personnel of the Nigerian\nImmigration Service (NIS) at the ports and borders of Nigeria to permit\nofficials of NAPTIP, to operate, spot, identify and prevent the illicit\nemigration of potential victims to foreign lands; and urged NAPTIP to begin to\nshame the traffickers in their homes, including widespread publication of the\nnames and pictures of convicted traffickers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, the issue of human trafficking requires a more\nintegrated approach and a robust Programme of Action (PoA) to stem the\ntide. Therefore, NAPTIP the line agency\nbased on the data gathered should come up with a national strategy document and\nintegrated PoA for the prevention of human trafficking and rescue of victims in\ntransit and destination countries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Furthermore, NAPTIP should spread its dragnet beyond rescue\nand step up action on investigations and provision of assistance and\ninformation that can facilitate the arrest and prosecution of offenders. It\nshould also go beyond having returnee trafficked victims kept in shelters, to\nbe counselled, rehabilitated and reintegrated into the society. The agency\nshould track their stability and progress to consolidate on the gains of rescue\nand rehabilitation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Specifically, NAPTIP should reinforce measures in\ninternational treaties and conventions on trafficked victim to ensure the safe\nreturn of the victims by working in collaboration with other agencies or bodies\nsuch as the police, customs, immigration and non-profit organisations (NGOs).\nNAPTIP should form alliance with some notable NGOs focused on combating human\ntrafficking. The National Orientation Agency (NOA) and the media should raise\nawareness and educate women and men on the dangers of illegal migration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To ensure the elimination and prevention of the causes of\ntrafficking of women for commercial sex purposes, government and other\nstakeholders should create economic programmes for girls at the risk of being\ntrafficked. NAPTIP and NOA should embark on social engineering campaigns to\nsensitise the citizenry on a continuous basis. All told, parents need to train\ntheir children on the path of honour as poverty is not an excuse for lack of\ncharacter. Parents should motivate their children to aspire and work hard for a\nbetter tomorrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Editorial Board, Guardian Newspaper By all accounts, human trafficking is the third biggest criminal enterprise in the world. While illegal arms trade ranks second, drug trafficking comes first. Essentially, human trafficking has become a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":780,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[192],"class_list":["post-779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-polity-politics-governance","tag-nigerian-women-trafficked"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/towncryyers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/women-trafficking-1-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/towncryyers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Nigeria-prostitutes-640x480-1.jpg?resize=640%2C480&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n