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EDITORIAL THE ALARM ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING Nigeria could do more to stem the menace of human trafficking
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ritish Prime Minister Theresa May was recently in Nigeria as part of a three-nation African tour. While in the country, she spoke forcefully about human trafďŹ cking and modern slavery for which Nigeria has become notorious. Almost on a daily basis, there are reports of hundreds of young Nigerian girls being trafďŹ cked to Europe and Asia for sexual exploitation. The victims are often enticed by promises of greener pastures abroad only to be forced into acts of prostitution and slavery upon arriving at their destinations. The sheer magnitude and sophistication of this human merchandising indicate that for any meaningful breakthrough to be achieved in the efforts to arrest it, collaborative attempts must be made by governments, non-governmental organisations, corporate bodies and even inuential individuals. Critical stakeholders can no longer continue to watch from the sidelines while unscrupulous people CRITICAL classify fellow human STAKEHOLDERS CAN beings as commodities NO LONGER CONTINUE and beneďŹ t from their ignorance, desperation TO WATCH FROM THE and, sometimes, greed. SIDELINES WHILE In the last one year, UNSCRUPULOUS Nigeria has spent PEOPLE CLASSIFY huge sums of naira FELLOW HUMAN BEINGS to evacuate hundreds AS COMMODITIES of Nigerians most of whom were trafficked to AND BENEFIT FROM Libya enroute Europe THEIR IGNORANCE, with promises of better DESPERATION AND, life. Several of them SOMETIMES, GREED lost their lives while those who survived went through anguish and trauma before the federal government came to their rescue. Aside international trafďŹ cking and migration, several young Nigerians are also being trafďŹ cked within the country by money mongers who recruit them from poverty -stricken homes in rural areas with promises of improved living standard in the city where they are usually offered as house boys or maids, with traffickers taking the lion shares of their
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PARIS CLUB REFUND AND 2019 ELECTION
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tate governors across party lines are happy over an alleged payment, said to be the last tranche of Paris Club refund payment to Osun State government. They are happy because they will get their tranche at a crucial time of 2019 elections in their states. Some of the governors I spoke to were busy strategizing how they will legally utilize the money few days to 2019 elections in their states. In the history of Paris Club refund, it has been established norm of turn by turn. The first tranche was paid in batches after verification to selected states. There is nothing wrong if Osun State is selected first this time before other states because it used to be last when payment on Paris Club refund is made. The governors are happy that the payment has resumed and they will get this tranche few days to elections in their states. Some state governors confirmed to me that they have secretly set up committees on how best to utilize the money when
monthly earnings. Against this background, we share the position of the US Department of State that Nigeria has indeed failed to take decisive steps aimed at curbing the menace of human trafficking in Nigeria. Victims of human trafficking and illegal migration often go through physical and psychological trauma as they must always be at the beck and call of organised patrons from the traffickers without objection no matter their level of grief. Those trafficked abroad neither have peace of mind nor desirable happiness, yet they often live under the threat and fear of deportation with little or no savings of their own. Like the obnoxious trans-Atlantic slave trade, this present plague is characterised by intricately connected networks around the globe. Of course, with quantum advancement in Information and Communications Technology (ICT), the contemporary practitioners of the criminal transactions have faster and more efficient tools to work with. That means they can move their “waresâ€? more discreetly. This poses a great challenge to the efforts to eradicate the dehumanising commerce. t the root of human trafďŹ cking in Nigeria is endemic poverty. Poverty has been a veritable tool in the hands of trafďŹ ckers in luring their victims with promises of improved living either in some cities within the country or abroad. By the time trafďŹ cked people realise that the promises of a better life were not genuine, it would have been too late. Several of those recently evacuated from Libya narrated how frustration forced them into the journey. We therefore challenge the government at all levels to address the prevalent poverty ravaging the land and offer meaningful hope of livelihood to frustrated young Nigerian men and women who are often victims of trafficking. We also task the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) to embark on massive enlightenment campaigns against trafficking particularly in rural areas of the country where this scourge has become prevalent. Parents must be involved in this exercise. Above all, the security agencies must remain vigilant at the borders, airports and seaports. With its abundant resources, Nigeria must not be made to stay on this list of shame much longer.
they receive the last tranche. The report in the Sun Newspaper of 8th September 2018 was a figment of imagination of the reporter. The reporter did not name any governor he spoke to nor confirm how it got the amount of money refunded to Osun State in the 21st century global world. The reporter is a member of opposition party that is promoting the interest of his party and confused how to cause division among the state governors in Nigeria across political divide. The governors are happy that Osun State got their tranche first and they are curiously waiting and planning for their tranche. The state government was in December 2017 paid along other states by the federal government the third tranche of the refund. Paris Club refund is a partial settlement of long-standing claims by state governments relating to over-deductions from their Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) payments for external debt service between 1995 and 2002.
Three tranches that had been released earlier to all the states, with the last released alongside the December 2017 federal allocations to enable most of the states owing months of staff salaries offset the backlog. At least six state governors from both the ruling APC and opposition PDP who spoke to me on the latest payment expressed joy over the payment made to Osun. They argued that the refund was made to empower the state government. Governors are happy that fresh reprieve, as President Muhammadu Buhari approved payment of another Paris Club refunds to the states, to enable them meet their states obligations. President Buhari had earlier approved the release of billions as first tranche of payment to states, in 2016, in respect of what was said to be debt service deductions in respect of the Paris Club, London Club and Multilateral debts of the federal and state government from 1995 to 2002. r*OXBMPNIF %POBME 0TPHCP
VOTING FOR APC IN MINNA
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ow, how do you explain the queue for a loan privilege of N20,000 over here in Minna, the capital of Niger State under the one critical condition that on the loan application form one must fill out a space that indicates the code of one’s personal voter’s card? Basically, no voter’s card, no loan. This touted “poverty alleviation loan� by some shadow agency of the government is no “loan� at all but a trap to get voters to divulge sensitive information for a fee of N20,000, and this ploy is working so well that the
liaison points for these cash handouts are being over-swamped by eager folks wanting to, in reality, sell their votes. Everyone over here in Minna is in agreement that the All Progressives Congress political party has devised a most ingenious way to beat all its competitors combined in the general elections of 2019. There must be something to this desperation to hold onto power when the country is not working and when it is operating in “lifeless� mode. r4VOEBZ "EPMF +POBI %FQBSUNFOU PG 1IZTJDT 'FEFSBM 6OJWFSTJUZ PG 5FDIOPMPHZ .JOOB /JHFS 4UBUF