AN APPRAISAL OF THE EFFECT OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN NIGERIA
Abstract
Human trafficking is regarded as modern slavery. It ‘involves deceiving or coercing
someone to move either within a country or abroad through legal or illegal channels for
the purpose of exploiting him or her’. The phenomenon in recent time has generated a lot
of attention among local and international community. The menace has become a
lucrative criminal business and Nigeria has acquired a reputation for being one of the
leading African countries in human trafficking with cross-border and internal trafficking
as a country of origin, transit and of victims. The paper attempts to articulate the effects
of the illicit business on Nigeria national image. The major reasons for the persistence of
the ugly phenomenon of human trafficking in Nigeria include pervasive poverty,
unemployment, greed etc for the purpose of forced labour, domestic servitude, sexual
exploitation, and rituals. The paper also review the legislations put in place the Nigeria
government to curb menace. The paper recommends that fighting human trafficking in
Nigeria is all encompassing because it requires a need for synergy of efforts to create
public awareness of the crime, address the poverty situation in the country, create
employment for the youths, reinforce relevant national laws, organize counseling,
rehabilitation and reintegration programme for the victims
Keywords: Human, Trafficking, Nigeria, National Image, Moral Appraisal
CHAPTER 1 Introduction
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Human trafficking is defined in international law as “the recruitment,
transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat
or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of
the abuse of power or a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of
payments of benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over
another person, for the purpose of exploitation.” (Letitia and Yvonne, 2014). In
other words, human trafficking refers to the wide variety of processes by which
individuals become enslaved—that is, unable to leave a situation without fear of
violence and paid nothing or next to nothing for any duration of time.
Human Trafficking most often takes place in three stages: (1) recruitment at place
of origin, which often involves coercion or abduction; (2) the transfer of victims
to a final destination, either crossing international borders or moving internally
within the same country; and finally, (3) the exploitation of the victims. The most
widespread forms of exploitation are forced commercial sex and labour,
including domestic servitude, but victims are also trafficked for purposes of
forced marriages, organ removal and ritual killings. Traffickers target the most
vulnerable sectors of society luring their victims, many of whom are women and
children, with promises of a better life through employment or education.
Human trafficking is largely a form of modern slavery on account of its
resemblance to the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade. Slavery as an institution was
abolished in the 19th century, and the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human
Rights prohibiting slavery or servitude recognizes the rights of all human beings
to live trade, more than two centuries ago, about 300 international protocols and
conventions prohibiting and criminalizing slavery and slave trade in any form,
have been signed and adopted by nation states (Goliath, 2008). But the recent
global economic crunch, poverty, social and political conflicts, wars, natural
disasters and the contemporary climate change have profoundly influenced the
alarming dimension with which people are being pulled-up as clients for human
traffickers (UNHCR, 2000).
Human trafficking, like money laundering, advanced fee fraud, cyber scams and
illicit trade in arms and narcotics has elicited a great concern as a contemporary
social problem worldwide (Poulin, 2004). It is considered to be the third largest
source of profit for organized crime apart from drugs and arms (UNHCR, 2000).
In 2007, marking the 200 year anniversary for the abolition of slavery, the United
Nations’ researchers and other experts agreed that approximately 800,000
persons are trafficked across the world countries borders each year. The
researchers and experts also concurred that human trafficking is nothing but
organized crime with the total market value estimated at about $32 billion (South
African Government Information, 2009). The international awareness of the
scourge of human trafficking has over the years increased considerably. The
illegal trade occupies a prominent position among the social ills that pervade the
Nigerian Society (Ofuoku, 2010). While it may appear that the problem seems
more endemic in the southern part of the country, there are indications that no
part of the country is completely immune from this social malaise that has
ravaged many countries in the world (UNICRI, 2004).
The United Nations protocol to prevent, suppress and punish human trafficking,
especially women and children, defined human trafficking as “recruitment,
transportation, transfer, harbouring, or receipt of persons by means of threat or
use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of
abuse of power or of a position, of vulnerability, or of the giving or receiving of
payment of benefit to achieve the consent of a person having control over
another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at
minimum, the exploitation of prostitution, of others or other forms of sexual
exploitation, forced labour or services, servitude or the removal of organs”
(South African Government Information, 2009). Nigeria, Italy, Spain, Thailand
and Belgium are the countries heavily affected by the problem of human
trafficking in minors and girls for sexual exploitation. Despite efforts by the
government to curb the menace, human trafficking has remained a critical
problem in Nigeria. The prevalence of human trafficking has generated serious
concerns that have provoked interest of this paper to articulate the potential
vulnerability of the victims and the attendant effects on the nation’s image. To
properly situate this objective for intellectual discussion, this paper shall attempt
to provide an expository situation of Human Trafficking in Nigeria, an in-depth
moral appraisal of the effects on the nation’s image, assess the potency of the
Nigerian legal instruments available to curb human trafficking and also
recommend possible recommendations to the problem of human trafficking in
Nigeria.
Trafficking in human beings is not new. Historically it has taken many forms, but
in the context of globalization, has acquired shocking new dimensions. It is a
complex, multi-faceted phenomenon involving multiple stakeholders at the
institutional and commercial level. It is a demand-driven global business with a
huge market for cheap labour and commercial sex confronting often insufficient
or unexercised policy frameworks or trained personnel to prevent it. Nigeria has
acquired a reputation for being one of the leading African countries in human
trafficking with cross-border and internal trafficking.
From all account, Nigeria is a country of origin, transit and destination for
human trafficking (Mashil, 2005). The dynamics of human trafficking in Nigeria
are considerably geographical in nature and involve internal and crossborder
trafficking. The cross-border context of human trafficking in Nigeria is presented
by syndicates that procure travel documents, transportation fare and
accommodation for the women and girls who are desperate to leave the country
in search of greener pastures in Europe, America, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.
These vulnerable women and girls easily become prey for the traffickers. The
lure to find a lucrative job abroad and earn a fat pay becomes clearly irresistible
because of the devaluation of the Naira and the humiliating pangs of poverty in
the country. It is only on arrival at their destination that the women and girls are
confronted with the harsh realities that they have been deceived, and are
ultimately lured or coerced into commercial sex. While the accurate statistics of
the total number of women and girls trafficked into sex industry are difficult to
obtain, in 2001, the number of Nigerian women working in the sex industry in
Italy alone was about 10,000; a more recent conservative estimate put the figure
at roughly 20,000 (Italy, 2011; UNICRI, 2004).
A recent report on human trafficking and migration to Europe shows that in
2014, 170, 100 arrived Italy by sea, compared to 141, 484 migrants that were
ferried through the Mediterranean Sea from Libya in 2013. According to the
report, the migrants had come from Syria (42, 323), Eritrea (34, 329), Mali (9,908)
Nigeria (9,000), Gambia (8, 691), Somalia (5, 756) and some other nations (4,095).
Among the migrants, 64, 625 were said to have applied for asylum (Ojugbana,
2015). In the case of Nigeria, most of the migrants were victims of human
trafficking hoodwinked by syndicates as a result of their desperation to travel to
Europe or Asia for a better life. Thus, human trafficking is a complex
phenomenon of which many people are involved at both family and community
levels, as well as at the border or international transactions.
The Guardian Opinion (June 29, 2004) observed that Nigeria is a well-known
player in human trafficking. According to the paper, the country serves as” a
base camp and transit channel for traffickers and their human commodity”. The
paper also noted that inside the country and at border areas some locations are
known to be target spots for operations.
In a similar view, Oloko cited in Okpalakunne (2006) explained that human
trafficking consists of both national and trans-national recruitment and
movement of persons for the purpose of providing cheap, manipulatable and
exploitable labour for domestic and agricultural work, commercial sex work or
prostitution, begging, unregulated industrial work and street trading.
The South-east and South-south geo-political zones of Nigeria are noted for
active involvement in human trafficking. For instance, several thousands of
children are known to have been trafficked from Igbo land, Akwa Ibom and
Cross River states to Lagos, Benin Republic, Togo and Gabon for the purpose of
engaging them in child labour, which is akin to child slavery. The high rate of
child trafficking became a major source of concern to the Akwa, Ibom State
government that it banned “all forms of trafficking in children from the state to
other parts of the country to serve as house-helps or cheap labour of any form”
in 2004. The government also threatened to “deal drastically with parents who
persist and promote trafficking in children” (Njoku, 2015).
The Western part of the country is also involved in child trafficking for the
purpose of using them as cheap labour for domestic work, agricultural
production, including cocoa and rubber farms. Nwakamma (2004) reported that
Asewele, a community in Ondo State is a spot for child slavery. He stated that
both males and females were sold at a price of about N25, 000.00 each across the
border and there were always prospective buyers. He also noted that despite the
efforts being made by the police and immigration officers, Nigerian borders are
still vulnerable as far as child trafficking is concerned.
In Benin City, capital of Edo State, there were syndicates who specialized in
recruiting and sponsoring young ladies to Europe especially Italy, Amsterdam
and Belgium for prostitution. Taire (2004) observed that it was since 2000 that the
issue of Nigerian women in general, and ladies from Benin city and its environs
in particular going to Europe to work as commercial sex workers had become a
real cause for concern. Similarly, THIS DAY (May 3, 2004) in a story culled from
Economist stated that people-trafficking in Benin-city was an organized and
lucrative trade. The paper observed that it was riot possible to know how many
ladies were shipped out each year, but that “everyone in Benin-city knows who
has gone”. The paper noted that the girls were recruited by local sponsors “who
pay up-front for transport, and the girls therefore start out with thousands of
dollars in debt”
The major reasons for the persistence of the ugly phenomenon of human
trafficking in Nigeria include pervasive poverty in the society especially at the
family level; the frightening problem of unemployment among the populace
particularly the youths, and ignorance of the prospective victims of human
trafficking about their fate in foreign countries. Some other reasons include bad
leadership that has failed to improve the welfare of the citizens thereby resulting
in mass disillusionment and the urge by many citizens to leave the country in
search for better living conditions in other countries; the abuse of traditional
method of fostering children and get-rich-quick syndrome in contemporary
Nigerian society. There is also the pressures of urban migration which have
stretched the demands for house helps and, in turn, induced the internal
trafficking of young boys and girls conscripted sometimes into near slave labour
(The Guardian Editorial, June 29, 2004).
Moreover, there is the problem of the existence of powerful and influential
syndicates within and outside Nigeria that coordinate and finance the despicable
business, and the lure of huge profit that accrue to them annually from it.
IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 4 No 2, June 2018. ISSN: 2488-9210(Online) 2504-9038(Print)
(A Publication of Tansian University, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies)
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