Human trafficking: poverty and unemployment to blame, expert says

A UK-based Nigerian, Dr. Olalekan Ogungbemi, has revealed that poverty, unemployment and insufficient funding of relevant agencies to enable them to carry out their functions effectively are the reasons behind human trafficking people in Nigeria and Africa in general.

Ogungbemi, a renowned public health expert, revealed this to our correspondent in Lafia on Saturday, while previewing his recently released book, 'The Story of Samanta: One Story, Many Victims'.

He identified other systemic factors that make the cycle of human trafficking very difficult to stop, including: corruption, social stigma and rejection by family members.

Ogungbemi, in his book, x-rays the main character, Samanta Matama, 17, from southern Nigeria, a victim of human trafficking for prostitution.

The author says Matama is just one of thousands of girls, especially from Africa and Asia, who are lured and driven across the border, by land and sea, with unrealistic promises of a better life, with the help of smugglers in an effort to earn money as a sex worker.

He said: "The book, which has 12 chapters and 89 pages, tells the story of ignorance, regret, anguish, anger, neglect, disillusionment, superstition, shame, deception, corruption, bribery, organized crime, institutional shortcomings and systemic failures that have spawned and still spawn human trafficking.

"Although child trafficking occurs on all other continents, it is in high proportion in Africa, especially in Nigeria, as it is fueled by unemployment, insecurity, poverty, hunger and deprivation, which makes victims more vulnerable.

“The traffickers, affectionately known as madam, use deception, financial gifting, flamboyant lifestyle as bait to trick victims into believing that the grass is truly greener and pinker on the other side .

“And the girls are imported by criminal gangs from poor countries in the north and west of the continent. They are exported and forced to pay from their daily earnings in order to be able to pay off the heavy debts incurred by their madams.”< /p>

He added that often these girls, while working as domestic helpers, are told to perform sexual acts against their will.

The author, however, pointed out that the victims were forced to take an oath using their body parts - pubic hair and blood - to keep them locked in a cage of their own fear, ignorance and superstitious beliefs in order to do not escape.

“The book depicts human trafficking as a vicious cycle of cruelty and exploitation in which survivors of trafficking, after years of forced prostitution, have become traffickers themselves,” he said. he added.

Ogungbemi said the book describes corruption, systemic failure, nonchalant police behavior and immigration policies as reasons why human trafficking thrives in society.

According to the author, the trade in human trafficking thrives despite the establishment of relevant organizations such as the International Organization for Migration, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and the Commission National Human Rights Council.

He therefore insisted on the need to stem the tide of this dehumanizing enterprise in the country.

He also advised the government to be proactive in preventing, rather than reactive, making such trips unattractive and also stopping the illegal movement of girls from the country's shores.

He further advised parents to be alert in order to recognize traffickers and their job offers to their children which seem suspicious, saying that any parent who helps traffickers take custody of their children in the intention of trafficking should be punished.