NIDO Africa takes campaigns against child trafficking to Benue grassroots, urges National Assembly to punish parents who aid crime

By Tolu Temidire

The Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO) Africa has launched a nationwide grassroots campaign against human trafficking and drug abuse, calling for stricter child protection legislation and laws by the National Assembly imposing punitive sanctions on parents and guardians who facilitate or permit the trafficking of their children and wards.

Speaking during the campaign at Government Model Secondary School, Makurdi, the Continental Chairman of NIDO Africa, Prof. Jude Osakwe, argued that many cases of child trafficking succeed because parents and guardians willingly cooperate with traffickers.

According to him, holding such parents criminally accountable would significantly curb the growing menace of human trafficking in Nigeria.

"We are trying to see how we can send a bill to the National Assembly so that parents and guardians can also be held accountable because most of these things happen with their knowledge. They allow their children and wards to be taken out of the country. If they are prosecuted, it will go a long way in checking trafficking that is bedevilling our country," Osakwe said.

He explained that the anti-trafficking campaign aligns with NIDO Africa's mandate of promoting human rights and protecting vulnerable Nigerians, particularly children.

Osakwe lamented that many young Nigerians, especially girls, are deceived with promises of lucrative jobs abroad but end up as victims of sexual exploitation, forced labour and modern-day slavery.

"Traffickers promise them jobs in restaurants and other places, but they eventually become sex slaves, prostitutes or victims of forced labour.

"We have rescued many of them and brought them back to Nigeria. However, we realised that rescue alone is not enough. We must educate people at the grassroots to prevent them from falling victim in the first place," he said.

He disclosed that NIDO Africa had rescued about 2,000 trafficked children over the past two years, noting that the organisation had established anti-trafficking task forces in African countries to facilitate the rescue of victims and prosecution of traffickers.

According to him, one trafficker who smuggled his two younger sisters into Ghana had already been convicted and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, while many others had gone into hiding due to sustained enforcement efforts.

Osakwe said the organisation would complement the awareness campaign with vocational and skills acquisition programmes for rescued victims to enable them become self-reliant.

"Many victims are trafficked because they believe they have no means of livelihood. We want to equip them with skills that will help them build better lives after they are rescued," he added.

He said Benue was deliberately selected as the starting point of the nationwide campaign, after which the team would move to Delta, Edo and conclude the exercise in Abuja with another engagement involving secondary school students.

The Director of Public Prosecution in the Benue State Ministry of Justice and Secretary of the State Task Force on Human Trafficking, Mrs. Dooshima Ortsega, described the campaign as timely, particularly in view of the increasing number of displaced children in the state resulting from insecurity.

She noted that the awareness programme had equipped students with the knowledge needed to identify trafficking, resist deceptive offers and promptly report suspicious activities.

"Knowledge changes people's lives. The students now understand what trafficking is, what causes it, its consequences and how to avoid becoming victims. They have also learnt that whenever anyone approaches them with suspicious offers, they must speak out instead of keeping quiet," she said.

Ortsega added that the state task force would continue to collaborate with NIDO Africa and continue to intensify sensitisation campaigns in schools, Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps, markets, transport unions and places of worship, resulting in increased public awareness, arrests and successful prosecution of traffickers.

Also speaking, the Makurdi Zonal Commander of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Hembadoon Kuma, disclosed that the command had secured three convictions for trafficking offences this year.

Kuma stressed that tackling human trafficking requires collaboration among government agencies, civil society organisations and development partners.

"Human trafficking is a global problem that NAPTIP cannot fight alone. We need partnerships like this involving the Ministry of Justice, Education, Women Affairs, Youth and Sports and other stakeholders to effectively combat the menace," she said.

Some of the students who participated in the sensitisation commended NIDO Africa for the intervention pledging to become ambassadors against human trafficking in their schools and communities.

An SS II student, Benedicta Tyoapine, said the programme had taught them to be cautious of strangers, avoid bad company and always seek their parents' approval before travelling anywhere.

Another student, Samson Agbul, described the campaign as enlightening, promising to spread the anti-trafficking message among his peers, family members and residents of his community.

The campaign featured lectures on the dangers of human trafficking and illicit drug abuse, the tactics employed by traffickers, early warning signs, available reporting channels and the importance of community vigilance.

Officials from the Benue State Ministries of Justice, Education, Women Affairs, Youth and Sports, NAPTIP and other stakeholders participated in the exercise.