The economic recession in Nigeria has not just brought with it serious challenges for the masses but has equally worsened the existing ones which the people and NGOs have been grappling with for quite sometime now.

A major one of these challenges is that of human trafficking which has defied all solutions before the economic downturn further added fuel to an already raging fire. The fact that this challenge still exists despite all efforts to combat it is now not the major problem. The real challenge now lies in its astronomical rise in the last two years or thereabout.

Going by the figures reeled out by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the number of girls who were trafficked to Europe in the year 2013 was about 433 only for that number to have increased to a whopping 5 000 by the following year! One wonders what the figure looks like right now.

The issue has been further seriously worsened by the fact that more and more under-age victims are now involved in the “business”. Worse still, most of them are being pushed into the sexual slavery sector in countries like Italy, Spain and France among others.

Maybe the most worrying aspect of the whole issue is the fact that many of those who were there and came back through deportation and other means are actually itching to go back to Europe since the situation at home is in no way encouraging for them. One of them, a woman who goes by the name Miracle had this to say;

“In Europe, people are good people. They are like Jesus,” as she explained why she left Nigeria in 2012. “I pray to God every day. I ask him to find me a way to go back.” These are the words of a woman who came back from Italy two years ago. If for two years, she has failed to re-integrate into the system, then there is surely every likelihood that she will surely find her way back there at all costs.

All of that despite the fact that many of these trafficked people are bound to pay huge sums of money to their benefactors (ranging between $55,000 and $66,000!) before regaining their freedom from them apart from the harrowing experiences that they have to put up with in the course of the “business”.

God save this country called Nigeria.

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