Checking Human Trafficking In Nigeria

By most accounts, human trafficking, in whatever form, is one of the heinous crimes of the 21st Century, as observers liken it to a modern form of slave trade.

Human rights activists, among other observers, maintain that human trafficking has become a global menace, particularly within the last decade, forcing many countries, including Nigeria, to initiate measures to combat it.

Human beings, the articles of the illicit trade, are trafficked within countries or to overseas countries for the purposes of cheap labour or as sex slaves.

Over the years, human trafficking has burgeoned into frightening proportions across the world, as concerned observers note that no country or region of the world is spared from the menace.

However, like other global challenges, the world is tackling the menace of human trafficking headlong, concerned observers note.

In Nigeria, for instance, the crusade against human trafficking garnered appreciable momentum since the country became signatory to the Transnational Organised Crime Convention and  Trafficking in Persons Protocol in December 2000.

To coordinate the country’s anti-human trafficking efforts, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and Other Related Matters (NAPTIP) was established in 2003 via the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Law Enforcement and Administration Act (2003).

Since its establishment, NAPTIP has been spearheading efforts to stamp out the menace from the country and its efforts have been widely acclaimed as purposeful, resourceful and successful by observers within and outside the country.

The feats achieved by Nigeria in the war against human trafficking invariably compelled the U.S government to upgrade Nigeria from a “Tier 2” status to a “Tier 1” status in its 2010 Annual Report on Global Human Trafficking.

Mr Simon Egede, the Executive Secretary of NAP TIP, says that Nigeria is proud of the achievement, stressing that NAPTIP had been able to secure more than 70 convictions of human traffickers within the seven years of its existence.

He also says that more than 3,000 victims of human trafficking have been rescued and rehabilitated by the agency.

“We are proud of our achievements and will do all within our powers not to relent in our efforts, so as to sustain and even surpass our current feats in stemming human trafficking in Nigeria,” he says.

Egede, nonetheless, concedes that the war against human trafficking has not been a smooth­sailing affair, soliciting the cooperation of all and sundry in efforts to stamp out the menace.

“The fight against trafficking in persons is an enormous task; we cannot do it singlehandedly. It is expected that all parties should come together to tackle this scourge,” he says.

“A country bedevilled by human and child trafficking is a dead nation because the country will be affected by the myriad consequences, ranging from economic to socio-cultural and diplomatic problems,” he adds.

Egede says that the war against human trafficking is far from over, citing an instance in March this year, when an 18-year-old girl, Happiness Ogechi Uche, was rescued by NAPTIP from a camp in faraway Mali.

The NAPTIP boss says that the girl was enticed to embark on the trip to Mali with promises of securing a good job, adding that she unfortunately ended up in the North African country as a sex slave.

He says that the agency became aware of the girl’s ordeal when her father, who reported the loss of her daughter, subsequently received a call from her through a woman in Mali.

Egede says that when NAPTIP was alerted of the development, it promptly started to make efforts to rescue the hapless girl.

“We swiftly set in motion our rescue operations, using the INTERPOL and the Nigerian Embassy in Mali to effect the girl’s rescue and the arrest of two suspects involved in the trafficking,” he says.

Mr John Dashe, Head of NAPTIP’s Department of Investigations, explains the agency’s operations rather succinctly.

He says that NAPTIP is working in concert with some foreign countries, which it has entered into partnerships with via the signing of a Memorandum of understanding (Mou).

“We have Mous with countries such as Italy, The Netherlands and Spain. We have agreements with The Netherlands and Spain on training, and with Italy on investigation,” he says.

Dashe enthuses that the training which NAPTIP officials received from the foreign countries has been very beneficial, adding that officials’ quality service delivery has compelled human traffickers to avoid using the country’s airports nowadays.

“The human traffickers now use land borders via Niger, Mali and some other countries,” he says.

Dashe says that the training programme for NAPTIP also involves other agencies such as police and the immigrations service, adding that the human capacity development has led to an upsurge in the arrest of human traffickers, regardless of their manner of approach.

He, nonetheless, notes that there had been no deportations from European countries this year, adding that the development indicates that the anti-human trafficking campaign has been yielding good results.

Dashe says that whenever the victims of human trafficking are rescued, they are also rehabilitated to enable them to become useful citizens.

“They are normally counselled and subjected to medical checkups. The sick ones are attended to and all the victims are debriefed accordingly because of the trauma they have undergone.

“We then ask them what they want to do; if they want to go to school, we secure admission for them and the agency pays for their education.

“In respect of skills’ acquisition, we partner with agencies like the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) and SMEDAN. They come to train the victims in the camps set up for them.

“After the training, we empower them, sometimes with funds from donor countries like Norway, France and Sweden,” Dashe says.

It is quite heartwarming to note that Nigeria’s efforts to curb human trafficking have been receiving worldwide commendations.

For instance, in the 2009 Report on Trafficking in Persons by the U.S State Department, Mrs. Hillary Clinton, the U.S. Secretary of State, lauded Nigeria’s efforts to curb human trafficking.

She said: “Nigeria’s efforts are commendable and its cumulative achievement, over the past few years, to combat human trafficking has not been left unnoticed.”

In the 2010 report, Clinton noted a global acceptance of the existence of human trafficking and a collective resolve to tackle the menace.

“Countries that once denied the existence of human trafficking now work to identify the victims and help them overcome the trauma of modern slavery, as well as hold responsible those who enslave others,” she said.

“Although progress has undoubtedly been made in the fight against human trafficking, there is more work to do,” she added.

In Nigeria, however, the campaign against human trafficking has been a collaborative effort involving NAPTIP, the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).

For instance, the NIS recently paraded 17 suspected victims of human trafficking, who were arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, while attempting to travel to Egypt.

Mrs. Chinyere Uzoma, the Comptroller-General of  NIS, said that the apprehended ladies claimed that they were travelling for a legitimate business in Egypt, adding, however, that suspicions were rife that they were being trafficked.

Counselling the girls, Uzoma warned them of the dire consequences of allowing themselves to become articles of the illicit trade with the bait of securing good jobs and some other bogus promises.

“Nigeria is blessed with a fine weather; if you don’t have clothes, you will not catch cold in Nigeria because there is no winter.

“Even if you don’t have food, you cannot starve in Nigeria because a neighbour or relative will give you something to eat,” she said, adding: “But in foreign countries, you are on your own.”

Uzoma also admonished potential victims of human trafficking that living in foreign countries could be horrendous, as the human traffickers usually abandoned their victims in the countries, leaving them to fend for themselves.

She, nonetheless, gave the assurance that the relevant government agencies would strive harder to stamp out human trafficking in Nigeria.

Human trafficking is also giving the UN and its agencies a lot of concern.

At a recent workshop in Abuja, the UN Resident Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr Daouda Toure, said that an estimated 12.3 million people were subjected to forced labour across the world, adding that out of the number, 2.4 million were victims of human trafficking.

Toure said that the human traffickers usually made huge profits from the illicit trade at the expense of their dehumanised victims, adding that Nigeria still remained a “source, transit and destination” of human trafficking.

He said that the illicit trade in human beings, which thrived on misinformation, deceit, abuse and the victims’ exploitation, was quite lucrative to the perpetrators, as it collectively fetched them about 3.2 billion U.S. dollars every year.

Toure said that the rising incidence of human trafficking could be blamed on extreme poverty, adding, however, that human trafficking could not be justified under any guise whatsoever.

“It may be the search for greener pastures that is pushing young Africans to fall prey to the plot of human traffickers.

“Many of the victims do not make it to their destination and those who do, are confronted with the stark reality that the situation is darker and gloomier than that which they left behind,” Toure said.

Also speaking, the Italian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Roberto Colamine, said that human trafficking was a crime which violated the human rights of the vulnerable groups.

However, one of greatest challenges facing the crusade against human trafficking is the refusal of the victims to make useful statements to the relevant authorities whenever they are rescued.

This, according to observers, is because the perpetrators often subject their victims to oath-taking sessions, thereby compelling them to remain mum whenever they are rescued or apprehended.

“The victims are initiated in voodoo sessions and made to swear that they will never to leak any secrets regarding the traffickers’ operations. This actually makes it difficult for us to apprehend the traffickers,” Dashe says.

In spite of the comments on the anti-human trafficking crusade, observers stress the need to step up efforts to tackle the menace using a multi-faceted approach.

They also underscore the need for the Federal Government to provide adequate resources for the agencies in charge of the campaign to sustain and improve their achievements in efforts to stamp out the menace.

All said and done, the country’s rating in the global campaign to eradicate the illicit trade in humans will significantly improve, some say.

Okoronkwo, is of News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)

Chijioke Okoronkwo