Media, the Family, and Human Trafficking in Nigeria

Introduction

Human trafficking has been with humanity since inception. It has been a constant trend in the socio-economic permutations of developing countries especially in Africa, Asia, and South America (Ajagun, 2012). Global recession, increased poverty, social and political conflicts, natural disasters and climate change are indices that have contributed to the rapid growth of trafficking and how people are being pulled up for trafficking (United Nations High Commission for Refugees, UNHCR, 2000). Beyond the social impact of human trafficking, Enaikele and Olutayo (2011) disclosed that approximately 800,000 persons are trafficked globally every year and estimated its market value at about $ 32 billion (South African Government Information, 2009). The global awareness about human trafficking has increased considerably with state and non-state actors collaborating to ensure that the crime is brought under control. In Nigeria as well as other Sub-Saharan African countries, human trafficking continues to evade institutional measures (Ofuoku, 2010). Contrary to speculations that the situation is endemic in the southern states in Nigeria, United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research (UNICRI, 2004) revealed that there is no part of the country that is not affected by the menace. NAPTIP (2016) further confirmed that human trafficking is practised in all the six (6) geopolitical regions in the country; this makes it a critical issue in need of a multi-stakeholder approach.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) (2006) described human trafficking as a demand-driven business that has a large market for cheap labour. The forms in which trafficking exists within the global context include trafficking in person, forced labour, commercial sex, child labour and domestic work and, more recently, organ harvesting. The World Health Organisation has reported that about 11,000 kidneys obtained from kidnapped and trafficked victims were sold on the black market in 2010 (Bagheri and Delmonico, 2013). Forte (2006) identified migrant smuggling, sex trafficking, and labour trafficking as the three major categories of human trafficking. Forte disclosed that migrant smuggling involves trafficking consensual migrants who are assisted by smugglers to cross a national border. Sex trafficking is the trafficking in people, especially women and young children, for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Victims of sex trafficking are forced into “commercial sex industry – pornography, prostitution, stripping, live sex shows or illegal massage parlours or escort services” (Forte, 2006:34).

Nigeria has acquired a reputation for being one of the leading African countries in human trafficking with cross-border and internal trafficking. The dimension of internal trafficking in Nigeria is alarming as more of the trafficking cases followed the rural-urban pattern (Abdulkadir, 2012). Okojie (2014) disclosed that the pattern of internal trafficking is rampant in rural communities in Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Imo, Benue, Niger, and Kwara States. The identified urban destinations include Abeokuta, Ibadan, Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, Calabar, and Port Harcourt (Okjie, 2014). Folami (2008) disclosed that majority of the persons in this trafficking pattern are children between 10 and 14 years of age. It was disclosed that about 7.6 million Nigerian children are involved in the internal trafficking pattern, with boys accounting for about 60% of the trafficked children (Folami, 2008). The implication of this is that more school-aged children will be deprived the opportunity of having access to qualitative education. This defeats the UN’s sustainable action on improved access to qualitative education for all children.