‘Parents pressure children to be trafficked for prostitution’

Okechukwu Nwanguma

The Executive Director of Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC) in a chat with ABIODUN ADESOGA speaks on children trafficking and the enormous pressure some parents place on their children.

Why did you convene a stakeholders’ meeting on human trafficking?

It is simply because we noticed increasing cases of children being trafficked and abused in Nigeria. Since December 2019, we have seen two cases of children being abused. One of the cases was in Lagos State, where a child was locked up in a dog’s cage. The second case was that of a woman, who ruthlessly flung a minor on the ground. These are consequences of child trafficking. Most of these children are not related to them. These children are treated like they are not human beings.

Above all, there was the trending cases of two women trafficked to Lebanon and other countries. We have had cases of young people trafficked to places like Malaysia for their organs to be harvested. So we thought that this had become a problem and that we needed to bring to a fore and understand what the law enforcement agencies are doing about them. Issues that have to do with human trafficking are becoming epidemic. NAPTIP told us that since inception of the agency, it had achieved over 400 prosecutions across the state and 80 in Lagos State. This did not reflect compared with the trend. It shows that not much is being achieved. NAPTIP needs to do and it’s obvious they need government support. The experience I had from NAPTIP is that it has showed more commitment to work than the police. The police, even though it has its mandate to deal with the issues of child trafficking are not diligent. They see every case as an opportunity to make money than to solve crime.

Do you think corruption in police is militating against human trafficking war?

I have seen a case where someone gave a child to someone and later wanted to collect the child, but the person that collected the child refused to return it. The owner of the child went to lodge a complaint with the police, but rather than handle the case diligently, they collected money from the suspect. That sort of behaviour discourages people from going to the police to make complaints. Police are not having in the fight against trafficking, rather they are complicating things. I, however, think that NAPTIP seriously needs to be empowered since it is the agency saddled with the responsibility of dealing with issues of child trafficking.

What is your reaction to allegations that policemen used to storm brothels, arrest underage girls, collect money from them and released them?

But you know that it’s not a new story. The research we did in 2006 about police abuse and a senior police officer in Lagos State told us that they like night patrol because it provides them opportunity to meet prostitutes. He said that arresting the ladies and raping them were the fringe benefits attached to night patrol. When you hear that policemen go to brothels, they didn’t go there to check crimes, but to commit crimes. It is also an opportunity to make money.

What can you say about family values in respect to human trafficking?

The question of family value is a legitimate question. But a bigger question is the area of economy. Many of these girls who offer themselves to be trafficked are put under pressure by their families. You see, when there are no jobs and level of poverty is increasing, there’s no hope. For me, government first needs to provide jobs for people, so that families wouldn’t be under pressures to send their children to become house helps or sent outside the countries. Most parents know that there are going outside Nigeria to prostitute, but what can they do?

Don’t you think that parents who pressured their children into going into prostitution should be dealt with?

It’s not easy to prosecute ones parents. How many children would want to stand as witnesses against their parents, to ensure they go to prison for trafficking? Ultimately, the root cause of all these issues is socio-economic. If you deal with the socio-economic, which is poverty and unemployment, lack of education, having too many children, then human trafficking will be curtailed.  In those days when there were jobs, people even give birth to as many children.