Child trafficking is a technical issue affecting the development of a child, among other issues which surrounds the upbringing of a child, the child trafficiking is a complex one, which needs much urgent work to be done in order to salvage the future of our upcoming generations. In this light, a trafficked child is averagely exposed to different forms of de-humanizing experiences, which will affect their physiological, emotional nature and also bring mental torture, untold hardship to the child. Among these exposure are, child prostitution, child labour, rape and other bad things, which wrongs the image of the child.
Two months ago, precisely November, a middle-aged woman, was arrested by the Nigerian police, for allegedly stealing 21 children from Kafanchan, Jema local government area of Kaduna State. She was arrested in Gwagwalada, in Abuja alongside four others. Further investigations revealed that they have been in the business of buying and selling children for between N150,000 - N200,000 each, before the long arm of the law caught up with her. With this short illustration, one wonders what future plan(s) do we have for ourselves and the average child, by putting them on this detrimental lifestyle.
Nigeria is a source, transit, and destination country for children subjected to trafficking in persons including forced labor and forced prostitution. Trafficked Nigerian children are recruited from rural areas within the country's borders girls for involuntary domestic servitude and sexual exploitation, and boys for forced labor in street vending, domestic servitude, mining, and begging.
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. Children from West African states like Benin, Togo, and Ghana where Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) rules allow for easy entry are also forced to work in Nigeria, and some are subjected to hazardous jobs in Nigeria's granite mines. Nigerian women and girls are taken to Europe, especially to Italy and Russia, and to the Middle East and North Africa, for forced prostitution.
Indeed the 2017 report by National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) indicated 654 investigations, 24 prosecutions, and 23 convictions for trafficking offences, relatively compared with 507 investigations, 32 prosecutions and 24 convictions for year 2016. However, with this, the effort of the government in fighting child trafficking is not sounding enough, as they seem to be relenting towards bringing these convicts to book.
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| Trafficked Children |
According to the Acting Director, NAPTIP, Abdulrazak Dangari, 75 percent of the victims were trafficked across the states, 23 percent within states, while two percent were moved outside the country.
The figures also show that human trafficking is common in at least 20 states of the country. Among these are: Abia, Akwa Ibom, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Rivers, Ebonyi, Edo, Imo and Lagos. Others are Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kwara, Niger, Sokoto, Jigawa, Taraba, Yobe and Ondo. Outside the shores of Nigeria, the illegal business is equally flourishing. It has given Nigeria a bad image. In the American State Departments 2013 Trafficking in Persons Report, Nigeria was described as a source, transit and destination country for human trafficking.
There is a need for prosecutions to be brought to a logical conclusion in the public domain so that everybody sees that the trafficked persons actually get justice. Trafficking brings untold hardship and mental torture to the trafficked persons and their relatives especially when they are not co-conspirators. There is no reason why children should be exploited by another person for monetary gains or material benefits, neither is there any reason why trafficking should be treated with kid gloves.
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