The story of the abduction of human rights lawyer, Chief Mike
Ozekhome (SAN), last Friday on the Benin-Auchi Expressway made the front
page of major newspapers in the country. No doubt, his personality and
popularity as a foremost human right lawyer and a Senior Advocate of
Nigeria necessitated the importance accorded his kidnap story. However, the truth of the matter is that the Edo-born lawyer is not the
first person to be taken hostage in the state lately. While little or
nothing has been heard in terms of kidnap in the core oil-producing
states of Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta, where kidnapping started in the
country, there has been an upsurge in Edo State. In fact, Ozekhome’s
name may not occupy at least the 10th position if a list of the people
who have been abducted in the last eight weeks in Edo State is drawn.
The implication is that kidnapping-the taking away of a person against the person’s will, usually for ransom-which used to be an exclusive preserve of the militants in the creeks of the oil-producing states in the Niger Delta, has journeyed to many states of the federation to settle in Edo State, “Heartbeat of the Nation”. Kidnapping is now a big business in Nigeria and what is worrying is how underreported the scourge is; what one reads in the media are simply a very low percentage of the real case of abduction in Nigeria. A friend’s father in-law who is a retired public servant, over 70 years old, he came visiting the UK and simply refused to return to Nigeria. Here is a man who is not only comfortable back home but ALL is children are upper class professionals, he loves his country and he served his homeland, he deserves to rest in his old age and live in peace. He stated that not less than 9 of his friends have either been kidnapped, or have relatives kidnapped and the least ransom paid was N35 million. He even mentioned a case of ransom being paid trough a local Divisional Police Officer (DPO), who advised them not to involve the press.
We have to recognise that it is now becoming an epidemic and that kidnapping is now not limited to the upper class of society. From information available, bank officials are proving to be tools in handling funds for not just kidnapers, but other fraudsters, if we are to attract the best of our Diaspora community we have to put our acts together, checking kidnapping is also in the interest of Nigerians based in Nigeria.
Another menace bedeviling Nigeria is human trafficking. Since colonial era, there have being drift of resources especially humans from Africa to Europe, this then was known as slave trade, but was later abolished. But can it be truly said, that human trafficking has been abolished in Nigeria? But whatever the name, it is the act and its effects that matters more.
Human trafficking is a phenomenon that has generated a lot concern globally, especially in a country like Nigeria, where it is rampant. This involves recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons by means of threat or use of force or other means of coercion, abduction, deception, abuse of position of vulnerability or the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person, having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation could include prostitution or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery, removal of organs and more.
Nigeria is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically conditions of forced labor and forced prostitution. Trafficked Nigerian women and children are recruited from rural areas within the country’s borders − women and girls for involuntary domestic servitude and forced commercial sexual exploitation, and boys for forced labor in street vending, domestic servitude, mining, and begging. Nigerian women and children are taken from Nigeria to other West and Central African countries, primarily Gabon, Cameroon, Ghana, Chad, Benin, Togo, Niger, Burkina Faso, and the Gambia, for the same purposes.
Nigerian women and girls are also taken to Europe, especially to Italy and Russia, and to the Middle East and North Africa, for forced prostitution. Traffickers sometimes move their victims to Europe by caravan, forcing them to cross the desert on foot, and subjecting them to forced prostitution to repay heavy debts for travel expenses. Poverty is said to be the motivation for human trafficking and major cause for victims’ vulnerability to it. The victims most of whom are children in their pre-teen age, teenagers and females, are taken far from homes, and engaged in dehumanizing activities, all for economic benefits.
The different approaches and attempts of various governments, especially the Federal Government is an indication that it is aware of this menace in the nation. The Government of Nigeria fully complies with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. It has also continued to undertake strong efforts to raise awareness of human trafficking. In addition, its National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) ceased the practice of interrogating trafficking suspects at the same Lagos facility housing its shelter for trafficking victims. To better ensure victims’ rights are respected, NAPTIP formed a committee in mid-2009 to review victim care policies, aiming to strike a balance between ensuring victims’ safety in shelters and promoting their freedom of movement.
The head of media and communication, National Agency for the Prohibition Of Trafficking In Persons and other related offences (NAPTIP), Mr. Arinze Oraque, while speaking on the contributions of the agency noted that the agency has gone quite far and called on other organs of government, namely the state, and local governments, to also make their efforts to be felt, by way of targeting those causative issues that make trafficking to be. According to him, “This are issues of poverty, very poor social values, collapse of social infrastructures like schools hospitals among others. He added that the executive secretary has addressed the National Economic Council chaired by the Vice-President of the Federal republic of Nigeria. And also spoke to all the governors on the need to begin to tackle trafficking in persons and consider it a very big issue stating that; “there is no gain saying that it is a major crime which has huge human security implications for Nigeria”.
On how big the problem of human trafficking is, he said, “It is huge, and there is actually no state that you can point a finger and say this or that state is free from human trafficking. Every state in Nigeria is endemic to human trafficking. “Any child that is taken out of this country is a child lost. It is only ‘happens-stance’ that could bring that child back if you know what victims go through. And because it is a rather crime; by that I mean it is not a kind of case we can go and report. There is complicity from the parents the trafficker and the victim, so because of this thing that I have mentioned we will give in; but the consent of the victim is immaterial so long as there has been exploitation. “So long as deceit is the plank, you’ve made promises based on the saying that you will find them a job or abusing your place of authority, and then you subject the child to an oat of secrecy after which you forge papers, take the child out of this country, then exploit the child through sexual trafficking. If you are caught; you are in for it”, he stated.
The head of communication, NAPTIP, who said that the number of schools the organisation has visited is countless also noted that NAPTIP is also meeting with icons of the society as well as market people, all in a bid to spread the gospel against human and especially child trafficking, adding that NAPTIP has built many human trafficking clubs in schools just to ensure that the message is sustained. He called on the local and state governments as well as other stakeholders to join in the struggle to make human trafficking a past issue: “All we ask is that the state local government other stake holders to join in the a struggle, because we are not in everywhere and the best approach is that people should join in because the problem emanates from the people every victim is a child from a Local government; Is a child from a community and so on.”
According to him, “Parents and indeed families, societies should know that it is not the duty of the girl child to begin to fend for the family. They should have the number of children they can cater for. The child Rights act also tells us that there are certain established rights for children. The child has a right to play. The child must go to school; Access to education is compulsory and Justice able which means you could be taken to court; so, the child rights acts have all these issues enshrined in it. “So, when these things are denied the child, you have automatically gone against to child’s well-being and such actions can actually cause the child to be trafficked; and this is why we are talking about the almajiri child in the North. Because those children are easy prey for any trafficker, since they are malnourished, they are unknown, they are not seen. Nobody loves them.
On a final note, Mr. Arinze has this word for possible victims human trafficking: “Please run as far as you can when people come to make promises to you, check look before you leap. The grass is always is always greener on the other side, but why would anybody subject you to an oat of secrecy and then make you have to swear an oath of secrecy. It’s not a help any more. You have to run.
“These countries: Italy, Spain, Senegal, they are all countries that are undergoing serious economic problem, so why would they promise to get you a job there? And ask yourself: what basic skill do you have that will fetch you a source of livelihood?” Nigerian lawmakers must expedite action in increasing the prison terms for kidnappers and human traffickers; it is a rising terrorist act that must be nipped in the bud.
Written by Etuka Sunday and Evelyn Okakwu
http://peoplesdailyng.com/rising-to-the-challenge-of-human-kidnapping-scandal-in-nigeria/
The implication is that kidnapping-the taking away of a person against the person’s will, usually for ransom-which used to be an exclusive preserve of the militants in the creeks of the oil-producing states in the Niger Delta, has journeyed to many states of the federation to settle in Edo State, “Heartbeat of the Nation”. Kidnapping is now a big business in Nigeria and what is worrying is how underreported the scourge is; what one reads in the media are simply a very low percentage of the real case of abduction in Nigeria. A friend’s father in-law who is a retired public servant, over 70 years old, he came visiting the UK and simply refused to return to Nigeria. Here is a man who is not only comfortable back home but ALL is children are upper class professionals, he loves his country and he served his homeland, he deserves to rest in his old age and live in peace. He stated that not less than 9 of his friends have either been kidnapped, or have relatives kidnapped and the least ransom paid was N35 million. He even mentioned a case of ransom being paid trough a local Divisional Police Officer (DPO), who advised them not to involve the press.
We have to recognise that it is now becoming an epidemic and that kidnapping is now not limited to the upper class of society. From information available, bank officials are proving to be tools in handling funds for not just kidnapers, but other fraudsters, if we are to attract the best of our Diaspora community we have to put our acts together, checking kidnapping is also in the interest of Nigerians based in Nigeria.
Another menace bedeviling Nigeria is human trafficking. Since colonial era, there have being drift of resources especially humans from Africa to Europe, this then was known as slave trade, but was later abolished. But can it be truly said, that human trafficking has been abolished in Nigeria? But whatever the name, it is the act and its effects that matters more.
Human trafficking is a phenomenon that has generated a lot concern globally, especially in a country like Nigeria, where it is rampant. This involves recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons by means of threat or use of force or other means of coercion, abduction, deception, abuse of position of vulnerability or the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person, having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation could include prostitution or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery, removal of organs and more.
Nigeria is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically conditions of forced labor and forced prostitution. Trafficked Nigerian women and children are recruited from rural areas within the country’s borders − women and girls for involuntary domestic servitude and forced commercial sexual exploitation, and boys for forced labor in street vending, domestic servitude, mining, and begging. Nigerian women and children are taken from Nigeria to other West and Central African countries, primarily Gabon, Cameroon, Ghana, Chad, Benin, Togo, Niger, Burkina Faso, and the Gambia, for the same purposes.
Nigerian women and girls are also taken to Europe, especially to Italy and Russia, and to the Middle East and North Africa, for forced prostitution. Traffickers sometimes move their victims to Europe by caravan, forcing them to cross the desert on foot, and subjecting them to forced prostitution to repay heavy debts for travel expenses. Poverty is said to be the motivation for human trafficking and major cause for victims’ vulnerability to it. The victims most of whom are children in their pre-teen age, teenagers and females, are taken far from homes, and engaged in dehumanizing activities, all for economic benefits.
The different approaches and attempts of various governments, especially the Federal Government is an indication that it is aware of this menace in the nation. The Government of Nigeria fully complies with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. It has also continued to undertake strong efforts to raise awareness of human trafficking. In addition, its National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) ceased the practice of interrogating trafficking suspects at the same Lagos facility housing its shelter for trafficking victims. To better ensure victims’ rights are respected, NAPTIP formed a committee in mid-2009 to review victim care policies, aiming to strike a balance between ensuring victims’ safety in shelters and promoting their freedom of movement.
The head of media and communication, National Agency for the Prohibition Of Trafficking In Persons and other related offences (NAPTIP), Mr. Arinze Oraque, while speaking on the contributions of the agency noted that the agency has gone quite far and called on other organs of government, namely the state, and local governments, to also make their efforts to be felt, by way of targeting those causative issues that make trafficking to be. According to him, “This are issues of poverty, very poor social values, collapse of social infrastructures like schools hospitals among others. He added that the executive secretary has addressed the National Economic Council chaired by the Vice-President of the Federal republic of Nigeria. And also spoke to all the governors on the need to begin to tackle trafficking in persons and consider it a very big issue stating that; “there is no gain saying that it is a major crime which has huge human security implications for Nigeria”.
On how big the problem of human trafficking is, he said, “It is huge, and there is actually no state that you can point a finger and say this or that state is free from human trafficking. Every state in Nigeria is endemic to human trafficking. “Any child that is taken out of this country is a child lost. It is only ‘happens-stance’ that could bring that child back if you know what victims go through. And because it is a rather crime; by that I mean it is not a kind of case we can go and report. There is complicity from the parents the trafficker and the victim, so because of this thing that I have mentioned we will give in; but the consent of the victim is immaterial so long as there has been exploitation. “So long as deceit is the plank, you’ve made promises based on the saying that you will find them a job or abusing your place of authority, and then you subject the child to an oat of secrecy after which you forge papers, take the child out of this country, then exploit the child through sexual trafficking. If you are caught; you are in for it”, he stated.
The head of communication, NAPTIP, who said that the number of schools the organisation has visited is countless also noted that NAPTIP is also meeting with icons of the society as well as market people, all in a bid to spread the gospel against human and especially child trafficking, adding that NAPTIP has built many human trafficking clubs in schools just to ensure that the message is sustained. He called on the local and state governments as well as other stakeholders to join in the struggle to make human trafficking a past issue: “All we ask is that the state local government other stake holders to join in the a struggle, because we are not in everywhere and the best approach is that people should join in because the problem emanates from the people every victim is a child from a Local government; Is a child from a community and so on.”
According to him, “Parents and indeed families, societies should know that it is not the duty of the girl child to begin to fend for the family. They should have the number of children they can cater for. The child Rights act also tells us that there are certain established rights for children. The child has a right to play. The child must go to school; Access to education is compulsory and Justice able which means you could be taken to court; so, the child rights acts have all these issues enshrined in it. “So, when these things are denied the child, you have automatically gone against to child’s well-being and such actions can actually cause the child to be trafficked; and this is why we are talking about the almajiri child in the North. Because those children are easy prey for any trafficker, since they are malnourished, they are unknown, they are not seen. Nobody loves them.
On a final note, Mr. Arinze has this word for possible victims human trafficking: “Please run as far as you can when people come to make promises to you, check look before you leap. The grass is always is always greener on the other side, but why would anybody subject you to an oat of secrecy and then make you have to swear an oath of secrecy. It’s not a help any more. You have to run.
“These countries: Italy, Spain, Senegal, they are all countries that are undergoing serious economic problem, so why would they promise to get you a job there? And ask yourself: what basic skill do you have that will fetch you a source of livelihood?” Nigerian lawmakers must expedite action in increasing the prison terms for kidnappers and human traffickers; it is a rising terrorist act that must be nipped in the bud.
Written by Etuka Sunday and Evelyn Okakwu
http://peoplesdailyng.com/rising-to-the-challenge-of-human-kidnapping-scandal-in-nigeria/
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