The laws against the crime should be enforced
Early last month, the Oyo State Controller of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Mr. Innocent Akatu, announced the arrest of four clerics for allegedly engaging in child trafficking. Among the victims were 12 boys and four girls who were allegedly being used by the accused persons as part of a slavery ring. “We have young children being taken away from their parents under the pretext that the traffickers would get jobs for them or give them better standard of living,’’ he said.
Citing the case of a nine-year-old boy from Benue State who was brought to Ibadan by his brother and sold into slavery to buttress his point, Akatu said: “These children do not receive the wages paid on them. The money goes to the people who brought them. So it is pure slavery. Before, when we arrested children like these, we reconciled them with their parents. Even the foreigners would be taken to their countries. But we now feel that the method did not help to check the problem. That is why we are handing them over to NAPTIP for appropriate legal actions.”
Indeed, chilling statistics suggest that human trafficking has become one of the biggest MONEY MAKING BUSINESSES after drug trafficking today. It is all the more shameful that our country is regarded not only as a transit route for this illegal trade but also a source as well as a destination with children and young adults, especially of the womenfolk, now becoming merchandise for what has become a cross-border crime.
It is instructive to note that to combat this challenge, the federal government had in 2003 enacted the Trafficking in Persons Law Enforcement and Administration Act. It was amended in 2005 to prescribe more severe penalties for trafficking offenders as well as prohibits all forms of human trafficking. Despite that, human trafficking remains a major challenge in our country today while the non-domestication of the Child Rights Act by many states has only compounded the problem.
In what is clearly an organised crime involving international syndicates, human traffickers move their victims to Europe through North Africa by caravan, most often forcing their victims to cross the desert on foot. In the process many die even as the survivors are subjected to all forms of indignity in the bid to repay the heavy debts in form of travel expenses owed their “benefactors”. But the trade is thriving because while in the past NAPTIP had been able to secure convictions of trafficking offences, that is no longer the case as most of the people involved wield powerful influence with which they circumvent the law.
To tackle the menace, families, voluntary organisations and other stakeholders should join governments, at all levels, in the effort to provide adequate framework for the protection of the Nigerian child. Even when our country took the right step in establishing the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and related matters (NAPTIP) in 2004, the agency has been handicapped by influential Nigerians who seek the release of human traffickers and a lack of an ECOWAS framework to collaborate with transit countries.
While we condemn human trafficking, we are of the strong belief that a demonstration of political will to diligently prosecute offenders would serve as deterrent to those engaged in the nefarious trade. There is also a need for a sustained sensitisation of Nigerians, especially in rural areas, on the dangers posed by ‘good Samaritans’ who offer better lives for children away from the watchful eyes of their parents and guardians. A culture where little children are expected to provide for or supplement their family upkeep should also be discouraged while the authorities must put in place guidelines on the hiring of domestic household staff through certified agencies.
