AN ANALYSIS OF THE CONCEPT OF VICTIMS OF CRIMES IN NIGERIA
CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
It is not exaggeration that despite the concept of victims of crimes in nigeria effort of National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and other bodies like the International Labour Organization (ILO) , there are still cases and reports of women and child trafficking in Nigeria. There are occasions where hospitals take in young pregnant girls, offer them money for their babies ranging from N20,000-N25,000,which they in turn sell between N150,000-N30,000 depending on the gender of the baby . Regrettably, many Nigerian children in particular and Africa in general are prone to the whims and caprices of human traffickers at a very astronomical rate. This however, truncates their chances of being exposed to proper and standard education and/or training that is expected to transform them into becoming part of the available human capital resource in Nigeria and the entire Africa.If human capital development centres on the education and training of human being within a society and human trafficking involves the movement of human beings illegally from one location to another for the purposes of exploitation and money making, then trafficking in persons should be considered as a serious impediment to the development of human capital of any nation. As a matter of regret, it is unfortunate to disclose that the women and children who are trafficked from Nigeria to other nations for the development of such destination countries would have been the same people who ought to have been developed and used in Nigerian nation .Train up a child well, and he or she would become a functional future adult member of society, bound with the responsibility of developing the nation .
The act of women and child trafficking in Nigeria and West Africa in general has become a common phenomenon, which involves young boys and girls on the average age of 15years, which are mainly girls.60%- 80% of them are sent to Italy for sex trade and the common routes are west coast of Nigeria to Mali, morocco, boat to Spain or west coast of Nigeria to Libya and Saudi Arabia. It has been estimated that about 15 million children are engaged in child labour in Nigeria and 40% of them are of the risk of being used for entertainment, pornography, armed conflict, rituals and forced labour . Adenekan further revealed that traffickers lure children to leave their homes promising them education and training abroad, though due to poverty some go willingly. Sometimes officials at borders and traffickers conspire to smuggle women and children out for selfish interest .
Ignorance and poverty are central reason why some parents allow their children to be taken away from them for menial works. Parents with large families too willingly give out their wards to strangers for money to enable them cater for the rest of the family.
Traffickers prey on the vulnerability of such poor parents who are mostly illiterates to exploit them, since they are desperate for financial succor and therefore give out their children to strangers who give them money with promise to give the children quality education. Ironically the children are maltreated, physically and psychologically abused. Those that are taken as domestic servants stand the risks of being sexually exploited which invariably, exposed them to deadly diseases like HIV/AIDS . Unfortunately, some of them are used for ritual. Majority of the people trafficked, ranging from children to girls, young women and men are usually engaged in forced labour . Such assignments include: domestic services, agricultural activities, prostitution and extraction of some parts of their body such as kidney and at the extreme, using them for rituals. The implication of this is that the human capital strength of the country is jeopardized as the resources in human persons are being wasted sometimes very prematurely. It is germane to note that even at the local and international fronts; victims of human trafficking are mostly subjected to carrying out odd job . These include assignments like; nannies, house helps and some other domestic works as well as street trade (hawking) which would never allow them to develop any reasonable low manpower skills, let alone middle or high level manpower skills and knowledge. Even when such victims are exposed to good education and other forms of training, they would only be withheld to make them use their skills and knowledge within their countries of destination. Furthermore, the monies made by the traffickers are sometimes used to import illegal arms and ammunitions which are used by politicians and criminals to eliminate people within the
country. Consequently, this gesture reduces the number of existing human capital in Nigeria .
Apart from the inconsiderate treatment meted out on these women and children they neither feel at home in the hands of their captives, nor could they escape as the route are extremely risky. Stories abound on how women and children who are victims of traffickers have been rescued at border posts. Some rescued from refrigerated trucks severely dehydrated. Regardless of their age or sex; the women and children try to survive in a cruel environment. If we believe that children are the leaders of tomorrow, what type of future do we anticipate for a nation where child trafficking remains a lucrative business in our country .
The effects of trafficking are devastating therefore having negative consequences on our children. Isolated from their families, as well as communities and culture, most of these children find it difficult to trace their roots as a result of long wasted years or the influence exerted by their masters. Those women and children are denied their rights to in rare cases, some that managed to return to their villages finds it thorny to adjust to the new environment. The act of child trafficking is inhuman using our children as objects of transaction and its effects on the Nigeria include loss of lives, violence and crime, school drop outs, impaired children, poor national image, massive deportation of Nigerian girls. This, in addition, has worsened the regions growing AIDS crises because of the sexual exploitation of the victims13. It seems some parents do not help the matter as they occasionally defended traffickers after the arrest claiming they have their consents. Trafficking in child labour occurs along numerous routes in West Africa.
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 labour in street vending, domestic servitude, mining, and begging. Nigerian women and children are taken from Nigeria to other Westand Central Africancountries, primarily Gabon,Cameroon,Ghana,Chad,Benin,Togo,Niger,Burkina Faso, and the Gambia, for the same purposes15. 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 Europe16, especially to Italyand Russia, and to the Middle Eastand North Africa, for forced prostitution17. 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. During the reporting
14. Ibid
15. Ibid
16. Awopegba, P. “Human capital development in Nigeria,” A Socio-Economic Analysis, Nigerian Journal of Clinical and Counselling Psychology, Vol. 7, No. 1 and 2: (2001), pp. 157 – 167.
17.Ricco, V. “Modern Slavery: Human bondage in Africa, Asia and the Dominican Republic.” (2001), Available at http:www.infoplease.com/spot/slavery1.html,Accessed on 06/-8-2014.
AN ANALYSIS OF THE CONCEPT OF VICTIMS OF CRIMES IN NIGERIA
