Curtailing human trafficking in Ebonyi

Esther Eze, suspected of human traffickingClement Oko-Nnachi writes on efforts being made by government and non-governmental organisations aimed at curbing the menace of human trafficking in the country, focusing on the recent clampdown of the Ebonyi State Police Command on human traffickers in the state.

Nigeria is a source, transit and destination country for women and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labour and commercial sexual exploitation. Within Nigeria, women and girls are primarily trafficked for domestic servitude, and boys for forced begging pr forced street hawking.

Transnationally, women, girls and boys are trafficked to Nigeria from other West and Central African countries and from Nigeria to neighbouring countries for the same purposes enunciated above. Besides, Nigerian women and girls are trafficked to North Africa, Saudi Arabia and other European countries like Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Norway and many others. The question bugging the minds of many remains, is human trafficking on the increase in Nigeria? Who are the masterminds of human trafficking? Who are most at risk of being trafficked? What are the methods employed by traffickers to lure/recruit their victims? What inhuman and unjust conditions are victims subjected to? What impact has the creation of National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) made in efforts to combat these ugly development, as well as the National Assembly?

It is worthy to note that despite the effort being made by the Federal Government to stem the rising tide of human trafficking, the menace has not abated. In Ebonyi State, precisely on Thursday 12th July 2007, the newly appointed Commissioner of Police, Mrs. Julie N. Iroha, paraded before newsmen, a total of 121 suspects, including 12 women, in connection with human trafficking offences. According to the police boss, a team of detectives from the State Command, intercepted two luxurious buses belonging to one of the reknown transport companies in Nigeria, conveying the suspects from Lagos to Cameroon.

Upon interrogation, it was discovered that one Esther Eze (female) native of Uburu in Ohaozara Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, was in charge of the 121 persons, from various African countries suspected to have been trafficked persons. The Commissioner of Police disclosed that of the number, 92 are from Mali, 14 from Senegal, one from Sierra, Leone, one from Guinea Bissau, two from Mauritania, seven from Guinea, three from Niger Republic and one from Cameroon. During interrogation, the human trafficker, Esther Eze admitted that she works with a transport company in Cameroon and was assisting the victims in securing employment in various companies in Cameroon. A non-governmental organisation known as Daughters of Virtue and Empowerment Initiative (DOVENET) with its Executive Director, Mrs. Ugo. Nnachi, had been at the forefront of the fight against human trafficking, child abuse and neglect. The NGO has traversed every nook and cranny of the state with the mobilisation and sensitisation of the rural dwellers to stop giving out their children to traffickers, advising them to adopt family planning methods aimed at birth control.

The International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) organised a seminar in 2003 for Italy, of foreign prostitutes in Italy being Nigerians. Some of the proposed remedies to the menace are multi-sectional. It was held that government should incorporate human rights and development perspectives into anti-corruption work.
It should also enact a comprehensive law that will cover most aspects of human trafficking, specify severe punishment for traffickers, rehabilitate victims and give law enforcement officers adequate investigative tools. By improving on security at border posts and adequately equipping law enforcement agencies to check the schemes of the traffickers, the problem of human trafficking would be drastically minimised.

There should also be capacity building at all levels for the eradication of human trafficking. Public enlightenment through regular workshops, seminars, conferences and through print and electronic media. Schools, religious bodies, traditional institutions and the family should be sensitised on the evils of this abominable trade. Importantly,education and employment for the teeming youths is necessary to achieve the objective of curbing human trafficking. It is also necessary to discouraging excessive materialism and the culture of ‘get rich quick’, just as ensuring proper coordination of efforts between the police and other state security services must be made a priority. The United Nations Convention against organised crime signed by 80 countries and the European Union (EU) in December 2000, defined trafficking as a modern form of slavery and servitude.

The masterminds of human trafficking are individual criminals and organised criminal groups often involving relatives or other persons already known to the victims. Exploiting the poverty and low status of women in the developing world, middlemen are able to bring together the supply and demand for cheap labour. Globalisation has not only stimulated the movement of capital, goods and technology but also the movement of all categories of people from one end of the world to the other. Contemporary human trafficking is an organised business just as the transatlantic slave trade was with various linkages spread around the globe. Today, not only children and women are trafficked, young boys fall prey. Hand in hand with this, came the commercialisation of humanity which is akin to modern day slavery.

To curb this menace of human trafficking requires prevention through education, increasing public awareness about economic alternatives, protection for victims of trafficking and prosecution of traffickers, as well as fostering close cooperation between government and the NGOs to enhance public education and awareness programmes targeted at the vulnerable groups. The effects of human trafficking, especially on the victims are better told than experienced. Investigation has shown that for the traffickers, the profits are too high and the penalties too low to resist the trade.

These people are not being trafficked they solicit unregistered travel agencies to travel abroad. These European countries are just trying to criminalise this business because they lose about $20 billion yearly being transfered by the so-called trafficked people back to their families.