₦airaland Forum

CHILD TRAFFICKING IN NIGERIA

By,
Akintokun Ayomide
300 Law
Adeleke university
Member of Advocacy Research team.

Child trafficking is the act of trafficking, which means the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons. Human trafficking is defined in the UN Trafficking in Persons Protocol, which supplements the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, as “the recruitment, transport, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a person by such means as threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud or deception for the purpose of exploitation”.

Children account for 27% of all the human trafficking victims worldwide, and two out of every three child victims are girls. Sometimes sold by a family member or an acquaintance, sometimes lured by false promises of education and a “better” life — the reality is that these trafficked and exploited children are held in slave-like conditions without enough food, shelter or clothing, and are often severely abused and cut off from all contact with their families.
Every country in the world is affected by human trafficking, and as a result, children are forced to drop out of school, risk their lives and are deprived of what every child deserves – a future.
As the world and Nigeria renew commitment to curbing human trafficking internally and externally.

YEJIDE GBENGA-OGUNDARE reports that implementation of laws and policies against human trafficking and forced labour remains a challenge in the fight to stop trafficking in persons. About 200,000 children are trafficked annually while in West Africa alone, an estimated 35,000 women and children are trafficked every year for commercial sexual exploitation. As the most populous country, Nigeria has been deemed one of the countries with the highest figure of human trafficking and has been adjudged a transit and destination point for human trafficking due to factors which include the poverty index, massive devaluation of the naira, illiteracy, high rate of unemployment, gender imbalance, civil and political unrest, the quest for greener pastures and cultural beliefs.

Some of the Agency that fight against traffic in Nigeria are
National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and Nigeria Police Force (NPF) enhance coordination on law enforcement efforts – including investigating illicit centers exploiting women in forced surrogacy – and prosecute suspects while respecting the rights of the accused
Section 23 (1) (a) of the trafficking in persons (prohibition) enforcement and administration act, 2015.
The Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, originally passed in 2003 and amended in 2005 and 2015, criminalizes human trafficking and related abuses. The Act provides trafficked persons with access to adequate health services and protection against discriminatory treatment. The Act establishes a National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (Part II), establishes Agency Transit Shelters for rescued trafficked persons, and establishes a Victims of Trafficking Trust Fund to provide compensation for victims (Part X). The Act provides protections against discriminatory treatment, barring discrimination on account of gender or sex or on the basis of the victim "having worked in the sex industry." Part IX, Section 61(a). The Act serves as implementing legislation for Nigeria’s international obligation under the Trafficking in Persons Protocol Supplementing the Transnational Organized Crime Convention (TOC), to which Nigeria became a signatory on December 13, 2000.
Human trafficking is about the greatest challenge of the 21st Century. Nigeria is currently the centre point of global human trafficking. Before the year 2003, trafficking in person was addressed in Nigeria through the instrumentality of the Criminal Code Act and the Penal Code Act in Southern and Northern Nigeria respectively.

The law prescribes a penalty of Five years imprisonment as punishment for child or human trafficking, in addition to or with an option of $670 fine for labour trafficking. And 10 years imprisonment for trafficking of children for forced begging or hawking and 10 years to life imprisonment for sex trafficking.
The Imo State Government confirmed that it had ordered the state police command to begin a fresh investigation in a popular case of trafficking of two children in the state. The Attorney of Justice and Commissioner for Justice in the state, Cyprian Akaolisa, told the correspondent on Monday that he had sent back the case file of a child trafficking case involving one nurse, Ngozi Ebuzoaju, and one Chinyere Ohanyere popular known as madam Chichi to the police for a fresh investigation. The police had arrested Mrs Ohanyere for allegedly trafficking two children.They later arrested a nurse, Ebuzoaju, for allegedly buying the children for the prime suspect. While the court granted Ohanyere bail when she was arriigned by the police, the nurse who allegedly midwified the buying of the two infants had been refused bail by the court and kept in Owerri Correctional Centre, from where she had been attending her trials in court.
The state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice told the correspondent that he had returned the case file to the police for a holistic investigation. Akaolisa said that the police were not holistic in their investigations before transferring the case file to the Director of Public Prosecution for arraignment. For example, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice said that the police had failed to produce the woman who allegedly sold the children to the nurse. He also explained that the police in their investigations did not produce the mothers of the children who allegedly sold their children to the woman at large who in turn allegedly trafficked them.


Akintokun Ayomide is A
300 Law
Adeleke university
Member of Advocacy Research team.

New Single Released by

AMBASSADOR ADEGBITE ELIZABETH

Titled :: AKAIKATAN LOORE OLUWA
(UNCOUNTABLE GOODNESS)

The Song AKAIKATAN LOORE OLUWA* is a reminiscence of the faithfulness of GOD
life is full of many challenges, but Glory be to our God for the blessings He bestowed on our life. He has provided us with more than we could ever have ask, He surrounded us with His unmerited favour and mercies, His goodness, blessings are uncountable, truly" *UNCOUNTABLE ARE HIS GOODNESS

Listen and Download below

https://osworld1.com/akaikatan-loore-oluwa-elizabeth-adegbite/

Adegbite Youtube @

https://youtube.com/channel/UCGvnNi_MF9XSPLi6GWSfPUw

#gospelonly
#newmusic
#Godgoodness
#osworld1
#grateful

Music Distributed by
Team OS WORLD1

*Brief Profile of Ambassador ADEGBITE ELIZABETH*

Ambassador ADEGBITE ELIZABETH is a Gospel Music Minister. A worker in the Redeemed Christian Church of God serving in the Choir and Sunday School Department, who goes by the stage name ADONAI AMBASSADOR. From an early age, her dedication to singing and worshiping God through her songs could not be hidden. She hailed from Ifon in Ondo state and was born in Ibadan Oyo State. She possessed Higher National Diploma (HND) in business Administration from Lagos State Polytechnic. RCCG BIBLE COLLEGE - PGD, and also RCCG SCHOOL OF MISSION.

From her young age, she was dedicated to singing and sacrificed all her time to it.

She is the leader of ADONAI AMBASSADORS BAND based in Lagos with her first Album titled "TETE BAMISE OLORUN AYO" SINGLE " I AM VERY GRATEFUL and about to release another song by God's grace "AKAIKATAN LOORE OLUWA".

She is also a member of National Mass Choir of the Redeemed Christian Church of God. She is married to Pastor Adegbite Olusegun Adebowale an Area Pastor in the Redeemed Christian Church of God. The marriage is blessed with wonderful children.

The concept of Vote-buying in Nigeria

A vote as defined by the Oxford dictionary is a formal indication of choice between two or more candidates or courses of action, expressed typically through a ballot or a show of hands.
In the political phase which this paperwork will focus on, Voting can be seen as a method for a group, such as a meeting or an electorate, to make a collective decision or express an opinion usually following discussions, debates, or elections campaigns. Democracies elect holders of high office by voting. Residents of a place represented by an elected official are called "constituents", and those constituents who cast a ballot for their chosen candidate are called "voters". There are different systems for collecting votes, but while many of the systems used in decision-making can also be used as electoral systems, any which cater to proportional representation can only be used in elections.

Voting in Nigeria has been practiced as far back as in the colonial era when Elective democracy was introduced in Nigeria in May 1919, Though in this period the right to vote in Nigeria can be said to have a rather checkered history due to the fact the right to vote was seen as a direct consequence of property and gender not until 1979 elections when women were allowed for the first time to vote and this made voting a political right and birthed the elective process bedrock in Nigeria and the formation of the different political parties all over the country. The Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) was Nigeria's first political party. Formed in 1923 by Herbert Macaulay to take advantage of the new Clifford Constitution, which succeeded the 1914 Nigerian Council.

Voting has been intertwined into the elective [election] process, in the political landscape election is the formal process of selecting a person for public office or of accepting or rejecting a political proposition by voting. This means the election process cannot be completed without voting.

By Sec 40, 77, and 7 of the 1999 federal republic of Nigeria constitution as amended grants all citizens of Nigeria the right to vote and be voted for. The Electoral Act of 2022 which repealed the 2010 Act is the law that guides the conduct of elections and voting in Nigeria

VOTE BUYING is a form of bribery that corrupts the electoral process, it’s seen as the criminal manipulation of the election process and in the legal purview, it can be seen as the reward given to a person for voting in a particular way or for not voting. it is a complex undemocratic phenomenon that cut across many countries in the world, especially developing countries.
Based on the concept of democracy voting should be based on ideology and merit even though in our present Nigeria political landscape Election and voting based on these ideals are rarely found because the fatter your pocket the chances are there at times for you to win. This is achievable by vote-buying.

This menace is seen in elections of party executives, primary elections, or internal and external inter-party elections. Vote-buying transactions include money, food, beverages, other commodities and clothing, and at times employment. In the case of cash rewards or price for votes the amount tipped depends on the financial capabilities and strength of the candidate and/or the political party. In some jurisdictions, they call it stomach infrastructure. In more disturbing cases cooked food and even sachet water has been used to persuade electorates to cast their votes.

In the 28 September 2016 gubernatorial election in Edo, observers reported massive vote-buying by the two main political parties, the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The parties were accused of giving N3 000 to N4 000 for votes in several polling units. Similarly, in the 26 November 2016 governorship election in Ondo State, it was observed that members of the APC, the PDP, and the Alliance for Democracy were giving money to voters at most polling centers across the state. Some polling stations in Odigbo, Okitipupa, and Ilaje local government areas were given N450 000 while each voter got between N3 000 and N5 000”.

In the 18 November 2017 gubernatorial election in Anambra State, many observers condemned the brazen incidences of vote-buying during the poll, stating that the level of commercialization of the vote was an eyesore to democracy. In particular, the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room noted that “even more lamentable was the fact that the buying and selling of votes took place in the full glare of security men and election officials. It was simply a bazaar in which the election officials and security agencies were undoubtedly complicit”.

The 2019 Presidential primary election of Nigeria’s leading opposition party the Peoples Democratic Party held on the 6th and 7th October 2018 in Port Harcourt Rivers State of Nigeria. Votes were traded and sold both in the US dollars and Nigeria naira. The confirmation of delegate inducement, bribery and corruption, and vote-buying was confirmed by Vanguard Newspaper. There have been numerous reports of Vote buying in the just concluded APC presidential primary elections where it was reported that delegates were being paid a handsome amount of money in US Dollars just to vote for a candidate. During a joint public hearing by the National Assembly on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Chairman Senate Committee on INEC Senator Suleiman Nazif blamed the crime of vote-buying on certain factors that include “poverty, unemployment, lack of stringent punitive measures, lawlessness, laxity of law enforcement agencies, insufficient voter education and ignorance, among others.” Also, failure to prosecute vote buyers even when caught constitutes another problem in fighting the crime of vote-buying. According to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, “although penalties for these electoral offenses are not stringent, there is also lack of political will to implement the laws as it is, even if it is to offer feeble deterrence to violators. Arrests are hardly made and even where arrests are made, prosecutions are unheard
The most prominent example can be found in the just concluded Ekiti state election there were news and even videos of youths and people of Ekiti state celebrating the sales of their vote, using the slogan ‘Dibo Ko Sebe’ meaning vote and make soup.


Vote buying is a Crime
It’s against the social morale belief system in the society, in a country like Nigeria where religion is the bedrock of every individual life vote-buying is seen as a sign of dishonesty and against the God-like standard
Vote buying is the emerging rigging method used by politicians and their agents. It corrupts the electoral process and it is an act of corruption. It is a punishable offense under Nigerian law. It is against Section 124 (1) (a) to (c) of the Electoral Act as amended. There cannot be vote-buying without vote selling is an open form of bribery that substantially corrupts the Nigerian electoral system.” It is an electoral fraud or offense that the Nigerian Electoral Act frowns at. Upon conviction, an electoral offense convict can be liable for a fine or a prison term. According to the Sub Section (4) electoral Act Supra
The Nigerian Court of Appeal in the case of Saadu V. Afolabi equally termed bribery in election as criminal conduct. According to the Court, ‘Any person acting contrary to the provisions of this section commits an offense and is liable on conviction to a maximum fine of N100,000 or imprisonment for a term of three months or both.’
In one of his Commentary Human rights lawyer Mr. Femi Falana insisted that for the electoral process to be more credible in the country, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) must ensure that politicians involved in vote-buying are prosecuted.

The effect of vote-buying is so adverse that it needs to be curtailed quickly in other to save the future of Nigeria
The consequences of vote-buying are manifold. In the first instance, it unduly raises the cost of elections thereby shutting out contestants with little finances and promoting political corruption. When victory is purchased rather than won fairly, it leads to state capture. It equally compromises the credibility, legitimacy, and integrity of elections. Vote-buying undermines the integrity of elections as the winners are often the highest bidders and not necessarily the most popular or credible contestants
It, therefore, discourages conscientious people from participating in electoral politics and causes citizens to lose faith in state institutions.

Vote trading equally tends to perpetuate bad governance. It not only compromises the well-being of those who sold their vote for instant gratification but also the future of those who did not sell their votes but are inevitably exposed to bad governance that results from such a fraudulent process. For every vote traded, many people will suffer the unintended consequences when the traded votes make the difference between winning and losing in the election.

Vote-buying needs to be controlled by Institutions such as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Nigeria Police, Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offenses Commission (ICPC), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as well as the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-corruption Commission (KPACC) are the major body that monitors parties, candidate and including the voters’ behaviors during elections period in other to have a creditable result.

INEC has the responsibility to monitor the political party spending and in particular, has the mandate to prosecute electoral offenders. They must ensure that the capital-intensive nature for which our elections have been turned is addressed. Cases of voter, delegate, and legislature buying must be investigated and prosecuted. Only through this we can sanitize and stop the crime and misconduct of voter buying.

The EFCC chairman in one of his addresses revealed that the agency plans to work with INEC and related agencies to track politicians and individuals who engage in vote-buying and selling in Nigeria’s electoral process. According to the Chairman “we are working with INEC to stop vote-buying, we are seriously pursuing this, though it’s evident that no serious action has been taken on this, the display of searching bags at the just concluded presidential primary elections in Nigeria was just a show-off but not necessitating a serious manhunt for vote-buying because no one was going to come to the said ground with a bag full of money to share to the delegates but even at that there show of mirage is worth commending.
The Nigerian police have a great role in fighting vote-buying and prosecution of deviant voters and politicians. They have to demonstrate that they are capable of fighting this malaise.

Conclusively
Vote buying is a very serious and complex democratic ill that affects democratic processes. As a form of bribery, it is criminal and from a democratic perspective a subversion of democracy. It is antithetical to democratic accountability. As a crime and socio-political ill, it is against the participatory and free, and fair election and equally subverts good governance. It is a clog in the democratic wheel. It is an unwise business in our young democracy. It is the result of bad governance and an embarrassment to the nation. To be addressed, legal and institutional mechanisms are very necessary. Most importantly there is an urgent need for attitudinal change from the perspective of the voters. It is electoral misconduct as bad and illegal and as ballot stuffing that requires all stakeholders ranging from law enforcement agencies, the political parties, the media, civil society organizations, and the entire citizenry. Unless this scourge is addressed it will destroy our democracy.


Olajengbesi Samuel
Law Student- Adeleke University
Blogger & Entrepreneur
OS

Did Tinubu choose the wrong parenting purpose?

There are two major reasons for parenting
1. So your children could grow up and become something then take care of you (mostly for average parents, I don’t want to use the word poor )
2. The second reason is so that your children can be a good representation of your name, legacy, make you proud, etc This is mostly with the wealthy parents
Tinubu is seen as a father to many Nigerian politicians and notably was his comments on making president Buhari the president, Yemi Osibanjo as the VP even the Ogun state government, baba said he made him.

Now my question is what type of father is Tinubu?
Is he the one that wants to see his children uphold his legacy and feel proud of them? if that’s the case, we can say he has more than enough to be proud and grateful for, in fact, he should be the proudest political father in the nation

But then looking at it from the other side it seems like baba wants his children to take care of him, especially now that he has a chance to archive his lifelong goal of becoming a president (this he can easily archive if all his political children rally around him) he expected so much from many politicians especially The president and the vice, and yet he doesn’t seem to be getting little much.

Do we say it’s alright for baba to want much in return or perhaps he has chosen the wrong parenting purpose
Or then shall we say these children are not being considerate toward their political father

By Olajengbesi OS

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