Issues
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
This is an open letter to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Chief Nyesom Wike.
Your Excellency,
Sir, ordinarily, I would not be writing an open letter to you, but like a wise man once said, “Silence would be Treason.” So I prefer to stay alive than face the consequences of silence in the face of crime. With each passing day, and as the socio-political tides continue to turn, it has become more pertinent that more people speak up in a concerted MANNER to prevent the death of our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as we appear to be, in the words of W. B. Yeats, “turning and turning in the widening gyre” heading for an end where the falcon will no longer hear the falconer
It is unfortunate that since losing control of the Federal Government, with the loss of President Goodluck Jonathan at the poll in 2015, our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has continued on a downward spiral. It is much more painful, that where it is expected that leaders within the party should rise to the challenge and put an end to this decline of our great party, some have instead taken up roles as its undertaker.
It will be hypocritical to claim aloofness to what I believe is your grouse with the PDP and I am not a hypocrite. It will be uncharitable on my part to discountenance the role you have played in strengthening the PDP from 2015 up until the last Presidential primaries of the party. It is my belief that your grouse against certain members of the party who you perceived worked against the party and abandoned it in 2015 and then came around much later to take control of the party, is justified. Also know that your decision to remain in the Party and stifle its progress on the other hand, as a sort of payback, stands condemned. For a man of your pedigree and stature, it is a dishonorable act, highly dishonorable and stands as testimony against all you claim to stand for.
At least, it can be argued that those who you hold this grudge against, abandoned the party completely and did not sit back while actively working to destroy it from within. But what then can be the argument on your own part, seeing that those you are currently working with against your party are the same people who set in motion, and executed surgically, the plans that not only ended our Party’s leadership at the centre, but ended up dislodging the first Niger Deltan to occupy Aso Rock as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. Is this not akin to “cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face?” That will be worse than folly. Let us not throw away the baby with the bath water because we do not like the soap used in bathing the baby. It will be a grave mistake.
Honourable Minister, sir, it is rather unfortunate that of all people, you have also decided to play the role of an undertaker not only for our party, but for our dear Rivers State.
I will like to take you down memory lane a little. Let me remind you of your emergence as Guber candidate of the PDP in Rivers State, against all fairness and justice in 2014. You will remember that despite the reality being that you as an Ikwerre man was poised to replace a fellow Ikwerre man in Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi in our multiethnic state, Rivers people overwhelmingly stood by you and pushed for your emergence as Executive Governor of Rivers State in 2015. I dare say that your popularity in the entire Niger Delta region was at an all-time high at this point.
I want you to understand why you were loved across board leading to your eventual emergence as Governor of Rivers State in 2015; it was because when it looked like all were against the second term ambitions of the first Niger Delta man to emerge as President of Nigeria, you became not just a pillar but a beacon of resistance by standing for Goodluck Jonathan. Rivers people, as grateful and rewarding as they can be, paid you back by ensuring your electoral victory against the incumbent All Progressives Congress (APC) led by your predecessor. On your emergence, where there were second term Governors in the region, you, a first term Governor, was seen by the people as not just the leader of the PDP, but the leader of the entire Niger Delta region. You earned it, and no one could dispute it.
In 2019, when your re-election bid was being challenged ferociously, Rivers people once again stood solidly behind you. Many were killed in the process of defending your votes. Do you remember Dr. Ferry Gberegbe that was shot and killed while trying to protect your votes in Khana Local Government Area? There are many more unnamed and unrecognised sons and daughters of Rivers State who sacrificed their lives so that you could emerge as a second term Governor of Rivers State.
In 2022/23, Honourable Minister, you oversaw a party primary across board that saw some candidates imprisoned and internal party democracy jettisoned for your wishes, leading to the emergence of flag bearers of our party all singlehandedly picked by you. You have on more than one occasion publicly stated that you paid for all their forms. Even those shortchanged in this process licked their wounds and continued to play their roles as party members to ensure the success of the party at all levels. In what will go down as one of the most keenly contested elections in recent Rivers history, with formidable candidates like Senator Magnus Abe of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Mr Tonye Cole of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the vibrant youth driven Labour Party (LP), PDP emerged victorious across board except for Phalga Constituency 1 that was lost to the Labour Party. (Not that you did not loose in some other LGA’s but let’s stick to the official figures declared by INEC).
It begs the question, why then do you want to burn down Rivers State, when everyone who now holds political office emerged through a process designed and endorsed by you? Is it that you do not care about Rivers people and you are all about yourself? If so, I am forced to believe that those around you are not telling you the truth. The truth being that in a state where your words were law; where houses and businesses could be demolished or closed down without any recourse to legalities, where Executive Orders could be deployed to stifle the opposition, that your popularity is now at an all-time low. Probably because they are afraid of you, or of losing the benefits they gain from you, they fail to tell you that what you might perceive as a battle against your successor, has slowly but gradually degenerating into a battle against Rivers State and Rivers people. You know, there is a popular saying that, a man can cook for the community and the community will finish the food, but when a community decides to cook for one man, the reverse is the case.
LEAVE FUBARA ALONE
You have gone on and on about being betrayed by Governor Siminalayi Fubara. You point fingers forgetting that some of those same fingers quick to spot betrayals point straight back at you. It is not Governor Fubara that has betrayed the PDP by working against it in the just concluded General Election, and working with the opposition at the State and Federal level to destabilise the party. It is you, Honourable Minister. It is not Governor Fubara that betrayed Rivers people by instigating a political crisis with propensity to escalate ethnic tensions in Rivers State. It is you Honourable Minister. It is not Governor Fubara that has declared himself God over all in Rivers State and has no qualms with burning the state to the ground to prove a point. It is you Honourable Minister. It is you Honourable Minister who told the world that the APC was a cancer and you can never support a cancerous party. It is you Honourable Minister who ended up facilitating the emergence of the same “cancerous” APC that has accelerated the economic decline of this country and further impoverished our people with no remorse. All so you can be a Minister of the Federal Capital Territory? The lack of self awareness is gobsmacking.
Some days back I came across a video where you talked about death and how you do not cry when you hear about the death of some people because you have no idea what might have caused it considering many a politician swear “over dead bodies” and still go back on their words. Those words made me think, and I could see the reason behind them. You see, in chosing to be God in the affairs of Rivers people, you have closed your eyes and ears to reason; you see nothing and hear nothing that can cause you to rethink on the path you have chosen. In your quest to “show Fubara” you have unwittingly united a vast majority of Rivers people behind him, so much that even those who despised him because of you, now like or love him, because of you too. In your scheming, I will advise you not to forget that “the voice of the people is the voice of God”.
Note that the war which you have or are waging against Governor Fubara, has gone beyond being merely political as you might see in your minds eye. It is now one that, fortunately for some and unfortunately for others, has evolved into a war against Rivers people. It is good to point out that no one has taken a stand against Rivers people and won. No one has gone against God and won. In your defiant characteristic manner, it will be unfortunate if you believe your own hubris and that of those around you on the possibility of you being the first to successfully go against Rivers people. It will be a needless gamble; one where if you win you create more enemies for yourself than you can withstand on your political journey, and if you lose, your legacy becomes an inglorious and irredeemable one in Rivers State, the Niger Delta, and Nigeria at large. For your sake as regards posterity, it is my greatest wish that you have a moment of sobriety and a deep reflection and introspection on this path you have chosen.
Honourable Minister, sir, what is left of your legacy is on the brink of being completely desecrated and relegated to the dustbin of our political history, and it will be a sad end to what I will say has been a wonderful political career that many can only dream of. The ball is in your court, and may God Almighty have mercy on us all and forgive us for our shortcomings.
Gabriel Baritulem Pidomson
Dr Pidomson is former Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt and former member, Rivers State House of Assembly.
In 2015, I made a conscious decision to invest my financial resources, my time, and energy into supporting Nyesom Wike’s gubernatorial campaign. I poured my heart and soul into ensuring Nyesom Wike emerged victorious even at the risk of my personal safety.
Again in 2019, I doubled down on my commitment. I invested a significant amount of money to procure campaign outfits for all twenty-three Local Governments Areas of Rivers State. I spared no expense in supplementing Wike’s election efforts in my own local government, and once again putting myself at great risk to safeguard the fairness and transparency of the electoral process.
However, despite my unwavering loyalty and sacrifices, I found myself abandoned and forgotten by Wike. Throughout his eight-year tenure, he failed to acknowledge my contributions or fulfill his promises and agreements. Even as a former Deputy Governor, Wike denied me my severance benefit.
My investment in Wike’s governorship was not just financial – it was a commitment of passion, dedication, and belief in a better future for Rivers State. Yet, his leadership style of dishonesty, greed, drunkenness and rash abuse of senior citizens brought me nothing but disappointment, misery and losses.
By the grace of God, today I speak not as a victim, but as a hero. I have accepted my losses, and I have moved on. And as I reflect on my experience, I cannot help but urge Wike to do the same and allow peace and development to reign in Rivers State.
Nyesom Wike, when you speak of investing in Governor Sim Fubara’s election, remember those like me who also invested in you. Remember the sacrifices I made, the risks I took, and the promises and agreements you left unfulfilled.
It is time for you, Wike, to let go of the past and allow Governor Sim Fubara the breathing space he needs to lead Rivers State forward. Allow him to focus on the challenges of good governance and the aspirations of the people. Spare him these unwarranted and ill-conceived political manoeuvrings founded on personal agenda and not for general good of Rivers State and her people.
I may have lost my investment on Wike, but I have not lost hope in the future of Rivers State. And together, we will continue to strive for a brighter tomorrow.
Long Live the Governor to Rivers State, Sir Siminialayi Fubara!
Long Live the Good People of Rivers State!!
Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!!
Engr Ikuru is former Deputy Governor of Rivers State.
Tele Ikuru
