Human Traffickers and Combating Human Trafficking in Nigeria

Running head: HUMAN TRAFFICKERS AND COMBATING HUMAN TARFFICKING IN
NIGERIA
Human traffickers and combating human trafficking in Nigeria
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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HUMAN TRAFFICKERS AND COMBATING HUMAN TARFFICKING IN NIGERIA
Abstract
Human trafficking can be traced back to history when women were trafficked in exchange of
money. However, in this contemporary era, the scope of human trafficking has become worse
especially in the context of globalization. It is an intricate, multi-faceted phenomenon, which
involves multiple stakeholders at the commercial and institutional level. It is a demand-driven
business that is conducted globally as it involves cheap labor and commercial sex that meets
head-on with policies and legislation, which is though enforced but are yet to be implemented
successfully. The lack of trained professional within the law enforcement agency is another
drawback that acts as an advantage for the traffickers to carry out the illegal activities. Nigeria is
well known for being one of the leading nations in Africa in human trafficking with internal and
cross-border trafficking. Military regimes in Nigeria have led to the incline in the violation of
human rights giving rise to socio-economic, environmental and cultural crises. Under such
situation, the development and growth of the country is affected adversely. The victims of human
trafficking in Nigeria, which comprises women and girls, in particular, are shipped off to foreign
countries under false promises of providing them with good educational, job or financial
opportunities and are forced to enter into prostitutions, adult film industry, etc. This dissertation
paper shall attempt to provide a detail explanation of all the push and pull factors that have
attributed to the incline in the human trafficking in Nigeria. It shall also shed some light on the
various measures that have been undertaken by the Federal and the State governments and the
extent to which such approaches have been successful in deterring the occurrence of such
heinous. The researcher has also suggested certain recommendations, which provides a brief
outline of the measures which might be effective to prevent human trafficking.

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HUMAN TRAFFICKERS AND COMBATING HUMAN TARFFICKING IN NIGERIA
Table of Contents
1.0.Introduction................................................................................................................................4
1.1.Background of the study............................................................................................................5
1.2.Purpose of the study...................................................................................................................7
1.3.Aims and Objectives..................................................................................................................8
1.4.Research Questions....................................................................................................................8
2.0.Literature Review......................................................................................................................9
2.1.Human traffickers......................................................................................................................9
2.2.Strategies of Nigerian traffickers...............................................................................................9
2.3.Human trafficking....................................................................................................................11
2.4.Types of Trafficking................................................................................................................12
2.5.Human trafficking in Nigeria...................................................................................................13
2.6.Root causes for human trafficking...........................................................................................16
2.7.Root causes for human trafficking in Nigeria..........................................................................17
2.8.Structural factors attributing to human trafficking in Africa...................................................23
2.9.Structural factors for human trafficking in Nigeria.................................................................29
2.10.Nigerian Legislative, policy and Institutional framework....................................................37
2.11.Governmental approaches to combat human trafficking in Nigeria......................................40
2.12.Success of the Government to prevent human trafficking in Nigeria...................................45
3.0.Research Methodology............................................................................................................46

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HUMAN TRAFFICKERS AND COMBATING HUMAN TARFFICKING IN NIGERIA
3.1.Data collection method............................................................................................................47
3.2.Ethical consideration...............................................................................................................47
3.3.Limitation of research..............................................................................................................47
4.0.Conclusion...............................................................................................................................47
5.0.Recommendation.....................................................................................................................51
References......................................................................................................................................54

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1.0. Introduction
Human Trafficking is recognized as slavery of the 21st century and owing to its concealed
nature, the magnitude of the issue is yet to be discovered. Trafficking is a menace to the society
and is nothing new. Historically, this phenomenon has undertaken several forms but with
globalization, human trafficking has attained outrageous dimensions. The human trafficking
phenomenon is an intricate, multi-faceted phenomenon that includes multiple-stakeholders at the
commercial and institutional level (Leary 2015). This demand for this type of business is
generally high as it provides a huge market for commercial sex and cheap labor, often
confronting insufficient policy frameworks to prevent it from legal implications.
Nigeria is well known for being one of the leading countries in Africa that operates
human trafficking with internal trafficking and cross-border. The trafficking of individuals,
particularly, children and women has an adverse impact on the development of society, despite
the international institutions that have been legislated to prevent the occurrence of trafficking
related crimes. The traffickers include persons who exploit others especially women and children
who are vulnerable to earn profits from the commercial sex and forced labor into which they are
forcibly engaged (Leary 2015). These traffickers usually allure the women or children of
employment, good education and accessibility to other amenities either for themselves or for
their families. The traffickers usually take undue advantage of such vulnerable person and their
circumstances who easily fall prey to such traffickers in the hope for leading better life or
assisting their families with financial stability.
This dissertation shall include a detailed explanation of the concept of human trafficking
and human traffickers and the impact of such a heinous crime on the society. Thereafter, it shall
explain the various reasons that have led to an incline in the number of human traffickers who

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HUMAN TRAFFICKERS AND COMBATING HUMAN TARFFICKING IN NIGERIA
are successfully carrying out the criminal offence in Nigeria. The paper shall further examine the
root causes and the structural factors that have attributed to the incline in human trafficking in
Nigeria. The paper shall examine whether the Nigerian government has been successful in
combating the human trafficking in Nigeria and to what extent the government has undertaken
reasonable measures to combat the criminal offence of human trafficking, given the assistance
provided by centralized power resources to the traffickers who are otherwise designated to
safeguard the people.
1.1. Background of the study
Nigeria is known to be a country of transit, destination and origin for human trafficking.
The destination for the trafficked Nigerians includes the neighboring West African nations like
Mali, Equatorial Guinea, Benin, Gabon, Cameroon and Guinea. The European countries that
are chosen ad destinations for the trafficked persons from Nigeria include the Netherlands,
Spain, Belgium, and Italy, UK and Germany and Middle East countries like Saudi Arabia
along with North African countries like Morocco, Libya and Algeria. The trafficked victims
predominantly comprise women and girls but also include boys who are trafficked not only for
sexual exploitation but also for organ harvesting and forced labor.

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Figure 1: Main overland trafficking routes: Nigeria to Europe
Source: (Baarda 2016)
The foremost reason that causes human trafficking is poverty. Poverty compels
vulnerable women and children to fall prey to the human traffickers with the hope for living a
better life or to provide financial assistance to their respective families. The human traffickers
belong to local enterprises both small and large scale with extensive criminal networks. The
human traffickers are involved into this trade of trafficking only to earn personal gains. As per
reports, Nigeria has been a source, destination and transit nation for women and children who are
forced into the racket of sex trafficking or slavery. The Nigerian trafficking victims are engaged
from the rural areas significantly and from the urban areas to a lesser extent. While women and
girls are forced into sex trafficking and servitude, the male victims are subjected to forced labor,
bonded labor, street vending, mining, domestic violence, stone quarrying, textile manufacturing,
begging and agriculture (Baarda 2016).
It has been often found in more than 29 nations that the human traffickers themselves
often exploit the Nigerian trafficking victims and the rate of human trafficking has been on the
rise for the past several years within Nigeria and throughout European countries. As mentioned

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above, poverty is the main reason, which leads to human trafficking. Apart from that factor, it
has been often observed that the many victims report that their parents have forced or
encouraged them to be involved in the human trafficking and continue being exploited, to earn
money. As per the concerned authorities, the Nigerian sex traffickers operate in a highly
organized criminal network throughout Europe. Moreover, several human trafficked victims
have agreed to work on behalf of their human traffickers in order to escape from being involved
in sex trafficking.
Although the Nigerian government maintained anti-trafficking laws have been enacted
and implemented to prevent further commission of human trafficking within Nigeria, the
government has not been successful in deterring such heinous offence, which is evident from the
increased reports regarding the involvement of the government officials in the commission of
human trafficking themselves. It is often argued that enforcement of the law remained ineffective
in several parts of the nation and while officials attempted to address trafficking related issues,
their efforts were impeded due to inadequate resources and other judicial problems prevalent
between the Federal and State government.
1.2. Purpose of the study
The overarching purpose of the study is to understand the factors that have led to the
increase in the human trafficking rate in Nigeria. Several factors prevail in individual countries,
which make the country vulnerable to traffickers and promote their illegal activities. The
common factors that attributes to an incline in the human trafficking in Nigeria include poverty,
corruption and unemployment, which are considered as the universal driving factors that leads to
human trafficking. The element of unemployment and poverty leads to fear for families and
individuals who thereafter wish to escape from such situation in order to seek a better life.

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HUMAN TRAFFICKERS AND COMBATING HUMAN TARFFICKING IN NIGERIA
Human trafficking is one of the outcomes of corruption and this factor even permits the human
trafficker to carry out their illegal activities smoothly and even more effectively. This is possible
as the government as well as the law enforcement officials are themselves involved in human
trafficking racket, which makes it even easier for these traffickers to realize their motive.
Apart from determining the internal factors that causes human trafficking, it is equally
important to understand the international factors as well which an essential facet of human are
trafficking. This study will undertake a particular interest in trafficking victims and arrangements
made with respect to their rehabilitation process. The incidents of human trafficking have
become difficult to identify and even foresee which makes it necessary for the government to
continue development of predictive measures that would continuously supervise the preventive
measures.
1.3. Aims and Objectives
 to examine the structural factors that influence human traffickers in Nigeria
 to assess the reasons for resulting in incline in human traffickers in Nigeria
 to determine the root causes that influence human trafficking in Nigeria
 to highlight the strategies that would assist in combating human trafficking in Nigeria
 to examine the extent to which the government has been successful in implementing
reasonable measures to deter human trafficking in Nigeria
1.4. Research Questions
i. What are the structural factors that influence human traffickers in Nigeria?
ii. What are the reasons for resulting in incline in human traffickers in Nigeria?
iii. What are the root causes that influence human trafficking in Nigeria?

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iv. What are the strategies that the Nigerian government should implement to combat huan
trafficking in Nigeria?
v. To what extent has the Nigerian government been successful to combat human trafficking
in Nigeria?
2.0. Literature Review
2.1. Human traffickers
The Human traffickers are persons who are responsible for exploiting other persons for
obtaining personal gains that they achieve from engaging vulnerable women and girls into forced
labor and commercial sex. They trap persons who are poor and have a weak family background
by alluring them of good employment opportunities and education or marriage proposals etc. The
vulnerable victims who hope for leading a better life or assisting their respective families in
having a better standard of life fall prey to such allurement and become easy victims of human
trafficking (Bello 2018). The human traffickers recruit such vulnerable persons from the rural
area, mostly, and then subject the victims to physical abuse as well mental torture to exercise
control over them.
2.2. Strategies of Nigerian traffickers
These human traffickers may be solo individuals or they may be a part of extensive
criminal networks where they have a common thread who aims at exploiting people for profit.
Human traffickers may include a wide range of criminals, individual pimps, small businesses,
family operations, loose-knit, decentralized criminal networks as well as international organized
criminal operations. Most often, the traffickers and the victims share similar ethnic, nationality or

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cultural background, which permits the trafficker to comprehend and take undue advantage of
the vulnerabilities of the victims.
The Human traffickers may be a foreign nationals, family members, intimate partners,
acquaintances, intimate partners, strangers, males and females. As per the National Human
Trafficking resource center, human traffickers may include the following persons:
 labor brokers;
 gangs and criminal networks;
 Growers and crew leaders in agricultural sectors;
 pimps;
 small business managers and owners;
 Corporations and factory owners;
 Family members or intimate partners;
 employers of domestic servants;
 fake massage business managers and owners;
 brothel manager and owner
The very existence of human traffickers is because of the lucrative income associated
with human trafficking. The two essential factors that influence the human trafficker include low
risk and high profits. The combination of these two dynamic factors allures more persons to
become human traffickers, thus, making the human trafficking business most profitable business
across the world. The persons who are involved in human trafficking business often interconnect
this illegitimate business with their legitimate business in order to carry out their business
without being trapped and without being subjected to any police detection. () state that rapid
industrialization and urbanization has become a significant issue for developing nations like

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Nigeria as they lack the sources that should be used to address the crimes related to human
trafficking.
2.3. Human trafficking
In Africa, some forms of human trafficking can be traced back to the beginning of the
Atlantic Slave Trade during the 15th century, when several Africans were trapped and transported
to the new world under conditions of forced bondage. In the previous years, it was difficult to
estimate the earnings, but in this contemporary era, human trafficking amounts to a high-
demanding and profitable business, which is the second highest income-generating illegal
industry in the world. In regards to the definition of refugee, the Paleramo Protocol that was
formed under the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime in 2000, as an
outcome of the international cooperation and awareness, has set out the first internationally
interpretation of human trafficking (Weitzer 2015).
According to the Protocol, Trafficking in person implies transportation, recruitment,
harboring, transfer or receipt of persons by either threat or any other forms of force or coercion.
The other forms of force that are applied upon the persons for the purpose of trafficking include
deception, abuse of power or a position of vulnerability or receiving or giving of gifts or
payments in order to obtain consent of the victims or the person exercising control over the
victim for exploiting the victim. The term ‘exploitation’ includes a minimum exploitation of
prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced services or labor, slavery,
removal of organs or servitude. However, the consent of the victim cannot be used as a defense if
such consent has been used by applying the mentioned types of force upon the victim.
Despite highly increased international efforts along with national attempts to restrain the
commission of human trafficking, it still remains the most significant concerns in the modern

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world for several reasons. Some of such reasons include non-reporting of crimes, shortage of
trained prosecutors in place, lack of clear communication between the law enforcement officials
and the victims and most importantly, the opportunities that enable the traffickers to
communicate with each other easily (Viergever et al. 2015). Another significant factor that acts
as an impediment to the prevention of human rights trafficking is the involvement of the
government and even the law enforcement officials in the obtaining free services from the
trafficked victims. The corrupted officials maintain good relation with the human traffickers and
assist them in trafficking women and young girls by exchanging passports or even confiscating
the passports to themselves so that the trafficked persons are unable to return home.
2.4. Types of Trafficking
Sex trafficking
This form of trafficking is depicted as modern-day slavery wherein the individuals are
engaged in commercial sex by means of force, coercion or fraud applied upon the victims.
Minors below the age of 18 years who are forced to participate in commercial sex are regarded
as victims of human trafficking irrespective of the use of coercion, fraud and force. The victims
of sex trafficking are targeted by the human traffickers and then inflict violence upon such
victims or subject them to mental and physical abuse (Kempadoo, Sanghera and Pattanaik 2015).
The victims fall prey to the false promises, fake conduct that entraps the victims in the sex
industry for their own profit. Sex trafficking operations are carried out in the form of unique and
diverse sets of businesses and venues, which include escort services, massage business,
residential brothels, strip clubs, truck shops, motels, hotels, hostess clubs, etc even on streets in
public.
Labor Trafficking

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Labor trafficking is another form of modern-day slavery wherein the individuals are
required to perform labor or services that are usually forced upon them using fraud, coercion and
force. The service that are required to be performed labor trafficking includes forced labor,
coercion, debt bondage and involuntary child. The victims are forced, coerced and threatened to
wok against their will in several industries against which they are not sufficiently remunerated.
Certain other forms of labor trafficking includes working as a domestic servant in homes, farm-
workers and factory-workers who are not only inflicted with physical pain but are also compelled
to work under inhuman conditions with little or no pay (Weitzer 2014).
Figure 2: Types of Human trafficking
Source: (Weitzer 2014).
2.5. Human trafficking in Nigeria
In the West African sub-region, the phenomenon of trafficking in persons is prevalent
considerably where Nigeria occupies a vital position as a nation of transit, origin and
destination. There have been reports, which provide evidence of internal trafficking being
carried out from rural areas to the urban zones.
Origin

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The women and girl victims of trafficking are primarily recruited for sex trafficking and
domestic violence servitude purpose while the male victims are compelled to work against their
will on plantations, mines, quarries (Decker et al. 2015). Some of the male trafficked victims are
often forcefully engaged into petty crimes and even drug trade. A recent report on human
trafficking alleged that trafficking of young women from Nigeria to Europe for sexual
exploitation purpose has become an on-going trafficking flow, given that these trafficking
activities carried out are well organized and are not easily subjected to detection.
A fundamental aspect of trafficking business carries out in Nigeria is the use of threats of
voodoo curses by the traffickers on the victim to obtain their consent. These voodoo curses used
by the traffickers compel the victims to give their consent to prostitution in the fear of such
curses. The use of voodoo curses to exercise control over the victims does not end with obtaining
their consent but goes far beyond. Subsequent to the obtaining of the consent, the human
trafficking victims are transferred abroad where they are taken to shrines of voodoo priests for
oath taking purposes. During the ritual, various body parts of the victim is used like her finger
nails, hair and blood to make her oath that she would repay her debt; never disclose about being
trafficked before the police authorities as well as to conceal the identities of the human
traffickers.
If the reports submitted by the Nigerian National Agency for Prohibition of Traffic in
Persons [NAPTIP] is taken in to consideration, almost ninety percent of young girls and women
are being trafficked to Europe and are made to take an ‘oath of secrecy’ before the priests. It is
said that the fear of breaking the pact or acting contrary to such oath is so strong that it develops
a powerful grasp over the victims and acts a significant hindrance to seek help from the law
enforcement authorities (Harris 2016).

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Destination
Nigeria remains a destination country for all the persons who are subjected to human
trafficking and is a victim. The county receives trafficked women, men and children from Chad,
Cameroon, Liberia, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Benin and Niger and Central African
Republic. While the men are forced to work in the Granite mines and the farming areas, the
children and women are forced to become prostitutes. If they refuse to work against the will of
such human traffickers, they are subjected to physical and mental torture and the women and
children are sexually exploited, apart from being subjected to such mental and physical abuse
(Ikeora 2016).
Transit
Nigeria, being a transit country, is fundamental to circulation of trafficked persons to
Gabon and West Africa as well as Cameroon. The county also serves as a transit point for the
persons who have been subjected to human trafficking and have been transferred from Togo and
Republic of Benin to Middle East and Europe.
Figure 3: Transition of Nigerian Victims to foreign countries
Source: Bello (2018)

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Since human trafficking is a universal problem that arises due to illiteracy, corruption,
unemployment, abrogation of parental responsibility. In order to lead a better life and escape
poverty, most of the Nigerians migrate to other countries that assure them a better standard of
living, only to end up in the hands of the human traffickers.
Figure 4: Profit earned from Human Trafficking
Source: (Bello 2018)
2.6. Root causes for human trafficking
The root causes of trafficking vary from one country to another as an intricate
phenomenon as human trafficking is driven by cultural, social, economic and other factors.
Majority of these factors are particular to individual traffic patterns as well as to the states of
origin. Bello (2018) states that though there may be several causes of trafficking that is common
in every nation and can be traced in distinct regions, in distinct patterns or cases. One such

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common factor is the desire of the victim to migrate to foreign countries to lead a better life or to
escape from the prevailing conditions of their homeland.
The other factors that attributes to causation of human trafficking include the local
condition, socio-economic and political conditions, lack of human rights, poverty, etc. These
factors usually form pressure upon the victims that compels them to migrate to foreign countries.
Consequently, such people fall prey to the trafficking trap, hence, become victims of human
trafficking. Further, as mentioned above that several parents even sell their children with the
motive to earn money through them and they even compel or emotionally blackmail their
children especially, girl child to exploit them be it sexually or mentally and obtain money for the
sake of her family (Kempadoo, Sanghera and Pattanaik 2015). The children, often by force
become subjected to such exploitation either in search for a better life or for providing financial
assistance to their families.
However, some parent do not sell their children for money only but also with the hope
that it would keep them away from chronic circumstances like poverty or worse economic
conditions and move to some place where they can lead a better life, little do they realize that
selling them to traffickers does not make their lives any better.
2.7. Root causes for human trafficking in Nigeria
Dunkerley (2018) asserts that the psychology and nature of the people who usually
become subjected to human trafficking in Nigeria, in particular, plays a significant role. In
contrary to the passive individuals, the potential trafficking victims are individuals who are more
likely to be more enthusiastic and highly motivated to assist their families as compared to the
passive individuals. Walker and Hüncke (2016) further notes that people living in crime-prone

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urban areas of the developing nations are ,ore likely to risk their lives in order to lead a better life
which is evident from their present choice of location.
The root causes of human trafficking in Nigeria have been attributed to the push and pull
factors that are summarized hereunder.
Push factors refer to those factors that are not within the immediate control of the
individual and are responsible for supplying of the trafficked persons such as unemployment,
poverty, peer pressure, financial hardships, socio-economic factors etc. On the other hand, the
pull factors refer to those factors over which the individuals may exercise control and are
responsible for demand in trafficked persons. These include demand for sex, high profit with
low-risk, individual desire for better living standards, low-skilled labor, etc (Kempadoo,
Sanghera and Pattanaik 2015).
The demand and supply equation is usually defined in terms of push and pull factors.
These factors are said to have global significance, however, they vary in terms of local scale and
emphasis. Burke (2017) believes that while the armed conflict affects and enlarge the conditions
of insecurity and hardship developing fertile conditions for trafficking, it is ultimately high
unemployment rate, poverty, lack of opportunity and most importantly a quest to survive, are the
common factors that drive trafficking in humans such a lucrative opportunity. These push and
pull factors that are regarded as the root causes of human trafficking in Nigeria are two sides of
the same coin where the factors that make the women and girls easily susceptible to human
trafficking can be said to be embedded in the systematic gender discrimination. The five
significant causes of human trafficking in Nigeria include armed conflict, lack of adequate
knowledge about human rights, Greed, unemployment and poverty.

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Armed Conflict
The country, Nigeria, is well known to be a chaotic nation with Boko haram clashes in
the North and Biafra conflicts in the South. Under such circumstances, it is quite expected that
people would want to migrate to another country to escape the detrimental consequences of such
ongoing conflicts. In the hope of living in a society where there is no fear of being persecuted or
exploited, several Nigerians migrate to the foreign countries. The traffickers perceive this state of
the Nigerians as an excellent opportunity and allure them into the brutal world of human
trafficking.
On the other hand, people who do not attempt to depart from the country also come under
the clutches of human traffickers, as one of the aftermath of such conflicts. Hence, from both the
sides, the Nigerians are subjected to exploitation. Human trafficking under such circumstances
become very easy to operate as the victims are subjected to various forms of exploitation as a
means to exhibit the power of the conflicting parties, groups or agencies.
Disrespect for human rights
Disrespect for human rights is yet another cause of human trafficking in Nigeria.
Nigerian women as well as children are considered as objects, which can be sold in exchange for
money. Women including girls as young as 8 years are used for sexual satisfaction and obtaining
monetary gains. However, the modern era witnesses a step further when young male children and
youths are also being sexually exploited apart from other physical exploitation like forced labor,
bondage, agricultural labors, etc.

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Disrespect for human rights can be attributed to lack of knowledge and awareness about
human rights, especially, in the rural areas, which is known to be the “hotspot’ for human
trafficking. Women and children are not only forced into sexual and slavery exploitation but
women and young girls are married to older men twice or thrice their ages in exchange of
money. On the other hand, women often resort to alternative opportunities, which compel them
to migrate to other foreign countries due to such lack of respect or discrimination. Due to this
reason, the traffickers take undue advantage of this condition and allure them with false hope of
a better life. Their vulnerable state does not leave them with any better options to escape from
their difficulties and they voluntarily, sometimes are compelled, to accompany the human
traffickers.
Greed
Apart from the above push factors, which compels the victims into human trafficking
whereas the pull factors like greed for earning money and live a better life voluntarily causes the
victims to move into human trafficking (van de and Kruger 2017). At times, people who live in
poverty are allured to live a wealthy life by the traffickers and they readily agree to the human
traffickers. Yet another situation, where people having a good life and living under stable
conditions often long for wealthier life and voluntarily agree to acts that otherwise amounts to
exploitation to those who are compelled to perform (Butler 2015).
These people usually become pimps and work for the human traffickers to earn more
money. As already mentioned that human trafficking has become the most alluring business
where risk involved is less and income is high. These people often do not possess sufficient
knowledge or do not have a clear picture of the human trafficking offence and its effects.

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Unemployment
Unemployment is yet another factor that attributes to the incline in the human trafficking
in Nigeria. Majority people are unable to obtain any decent education owing to the deficiency in
obtaining appropriate training and skills for obtaining a proper job (Dunkerley 2018). This
compels them to migrate to other countries in search of jobs. The point that is worth mentioning
here is that people having a proper diploma and skills, which further compels them to seek job
opportunities in foreign countries. During the search for employment in foreign countries, the
Nigerians often fall prey to fraudsters and scammers who often force them into human
trafficking under the false pretence of employment in the foreign countries.
Poverty
Although the country has huge human and natural resources being the largest oil
producer in Africa and stands in the 11th position globally, is still considered as one of the
poorest nations of the world. Steen et al. (2015) states that the country lacks opportunities for
economic ventures, massive unemployment rate, low standard of living and a lessen value of
local currencies which disables the country to meet the health, habitat, food and security
requirement of its nationals. Cho (2015) points out that the presence of these impediments in
Nigeria leads to causation of poverty that forces the Nigerian citizens to survive. The Nigerian
citizens who are under huge debts are the most vulnerable persons to fall prey to the human
traffic offences.
This is because people with financial instability are left with no other choice but to sell
themselves in order to sustain themselves and keep their families alive. The population residing
with economic and political instability usually seeks to migrate to foreign countries in search of
jobs. The rural regions of the country lacks employment opportunities and majority of the

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population reside in the rural areas where apart from employment opportunities, the residents are
deprived of adequate trainings or skills might enable them to be employed. The children receive
education till secondary standards due to the lack of educational opportunities within the rural
region (Chuang 2017). Consequently, lack of job opportunities deteriorate their economic
conditions resulting which most of the families find it extremely difficult to survive. Therefore,
the parents subjects the children to carry out several forms of labor which includes human
trafficking either willingly or helplessly.
Under certain circumstances, the human traffickers are even able to deceive the parents of
the children by promising them a secured and better life for their children. In the hope that their
children shall lead a better life than what they are leading now, the parents agree and send them
with the traffickers (Butler 2015). However, on the other hand, while they believe that their
children are happily residing in foreign countries and leading a better life, in reality, they are
working in some sweatshops for negligible pay, are forced into prostitution, forced labor or any
other forms of exploitation.
The other essential pull factors that have attributed to the incline in the human trafficking
include the following:
High profits
In the contemporary era, slavery is considered as a successful business due to the high
profits associated with it. The reason being, as observed by Britton and Dean (2014), the
convenience with which human cargo can be moved across the borders compared to the hassle
that are associated with the transferring of weapons or cargo as there remains a risk of being
confiscated after such weapons or cargo is caught (Tzevelekos 2017).

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Human beings can be re-trafficked or re-used if not for drugs but for the other illegal
activities that have been mentioned above. Moreover, such trafficking is not only lucrative but
involves low risk of being caught. This is because the traffickers usually destroy the travel
documents or any other identification documents, which might be a significant evidence of the
human trafficking racket if it is confiscated (Bunting and Quirk 2018).
Low risk
As mentioned earlier, the human trafficking business is not only a secret activity but also
involves high risk as this type of business do not provide any authentic information and neither
such information can be relied upon. Another advantage of human trafficking is that it assures
that the persons trafficked especially, women or young girls will never return to the home town
due to the fear of social stigma which will not only affect her but will also affect her family. This
especially takes place within the rural region and apart from the social stigma; the villagers or the
residents of the region will fear that the traffickers might target children from their homes as well
(DiRienzo and Das 2017).
This is the scenario from the societal perspective, now, from the perspective of the
victims, Abiodun et al. (2017) states that they fear to return to their village or homeland even if
they have the opportunity and means. This is because the traffickers might cause harm to the
family of such victim under the misconception that the victims might disclose about the
trafficking business and its participants. In addition, the lack of documentation, fear of intricacy
as well as the mistrust and fear of the police, the victims remain silent about their condition and
continue to be exploited.

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These factors make the human trafficking business more lucrative as it wisdom involves
any risk unless the victims are rescued in any undercover rescue operation conducted by the law
enforcement agencies or authorities like the NAPTIP.
2.8. Structural factors attributing to human trafficking in Africa
After taking into account of all the push factors that influences trafficking, it is important
to discuss about the factors that are present in the social structure of the nation or the structural
factors. The growing demand for human trafficking is one of the significant outcomes of the
factors that are present within the society leading to an incline in the heinous offences. The
following are some of the most significant structural factors that lead to human trafficking in
Nigeria (Bello 2018).
Sexual exploitation
This is the most common and biggest factor, which has accelerated the acts of human
trafficking. Women and young girls including children are forced into prostitution, adult film
industries and escort service in the hope of providing them with good education, good jobs or
even marriage proposal (Hyland, Agbontaen-Eghafona and Cockayne 2017). Females are given
utmost priority in the human trafficking business as the traffickers earn the most in selling or
trading females into sexual services, prostitution, adult film industry, etc. The young females and
women are shipped off to other countries or are placed in regions within the country, that is
unknown to their families or themselves, and are forced into prostitution.
After arriving at their destinations, Bello (2018) states that they are deprived of their
travel documents and are forced to enter onto agreements to reimburse all the expenses that the
traffickers, especially the “madams” have incurred upon them. It is said that in Nigeria, as per
the religious teachings of Christianity and Islam prevalent in the country, prostitution or sexual

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exploitation of women is a form of sin. At the same time, as Morris (2017) points out pictures of
private parts of the trafficked women are sent to the priests who forces them to conceal about the
incident and the identity of traffickers under coercion and threats of killing their family. The
priests who are believed to be the preacher of the religion himself take part in such crimes in the
name of rituals.
Labor industry
Apart from forcing people into sexual activities, including both men and women, the
traffickers also use the victims into forced labor, agricultural works and even work in hazardous
factories. The children are the easiest prey to such trafficking as they are engaged into forced
labor whether it is in agricultural sector, construction sites or other hazardous industries like
sweatshops, firecracker industries, chemical industries, as they are not paid proportionately to the
amount of work that they carry out. The working conditions are inhumane and degrading but the
children or trafficked victims are forced to work under such circumstances under the fear of
being tortured by such traffickers (Truong 2015).
The trafficked victims are labors that are hired at cheaper rates compared to other normal
employees. They are subjected to physical torture as well as emotionally exploited. The victims
carry out the activities often for their survival or for the survival of their families. This is because
the traffickers usually make fake promises of providing financial assistance to their families in
exchange for their labor, which is most common driving factor that has led to an increase in the
trafficking business (Ojedokun and Atoi 2016).
According to Nagle and Owasanoye (2015), there are instances where children, in
particular, are made to beg and perform other illegal activities to obtain money for the

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traffickers. Just as the women and the girl child are sold to pimps who deal with the prostitution
businesses, male child or young male adults are sold to groups or individuals who are involved in
criminal activities like theft, robbery, murder, burglary or organize violence gangs etc. One of
the most significant outcomes of human trafficking is increase in criminals leading to an incline
in the criminal activities in the particular part of the country where such victims were trafficked.
Domestic servants
Children aged as small as 5 years old are forced to perform various domestic tasks that
too, not in their homes but in the homes of the traffickers themselves or for the persons to whom
they have been sold. Several people purchase these trafficked child victims to save the expenses
of domestic help and make the children carry out all the domestic works that are otherwise
performed by an adult person. Some of the activities include washing clothes, cleaning utensils,
moping and even carrying heavy goods, failing which they are subjected to physical assaults and
other forms of torture including inhumane torture such as depriving them of adequate sleep,
food, proper clothing (Iyanda 2016). Most of the children especially those, as small as 5 years
old often succumb to the injuries and die or suffer from severe physical injuries. Further, the
children are often subjected to sexual exploitation be it male or female child along with the
allocated activities that they have to carry out.
The children who are sold are not even provided with any papers or they do not even
have any identification document. The traffickers usually play it safe by acquiring the original
documents from the families from which the victims are trafficked. The families purchasing the
children also do not obtain any paper or documents to avoid any legal implications. The children
also lack knowledge about their rights, which would enable them to escape from the

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circumstances in which they are forced to work. Hence, this forces them to work for obtaining
shelter and food.
Military conscription
During the times of war or major conflicts, children of the conflicting states are
compelled to take part in the fight in the form of suicide bombers. One such evidence is that of
the Boko haram incident where children were used as pawns in the war resulting in deaths of
numerous children. Iyanda (2016) points out that Nigerians are least concerned about the human
rights including the civil, political, socio-economic, environmental as well as cultural rights that
has been incorporate in the African Charter as well. Consequently, the conflicting parties do not
feel reluctant in involving even the children into the conflict to the extent that they are used as
suicide bombers. The children or the families of the children are threatened of physical and
emotional consequences if they deny participating in the conflict.
Forced marriage
As mentioned above that, women and girls regardless of their age are the most targeted
population in the human trafficking businesses. This is because the traffickers earn huge benefits
from trading the women, forcing them into prostitutions or selling them to aged people who
forcefully marry them only to sexually exploit them and sell them further for monetary gains.
The profit earned by the traffickers through selling of women is much more than any other
activities that are carried out by the human traffickers such as organ harvesting, forced labor, etc.
Organ harvesting
Human trafficking activities as organ harvesting is the worst form of offence that often
process to be fatal. Ojedokun and Atoi (2016) states that though there are chances that women

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trafficked for sexual exploitation may be rescued or would survive in her profession, but in
activities related to organ harvesting, there are mini al chances of survival of the victim to be
rescued. Organ harvesting has made trafficking more attractive as trading of human body organs
are in high demand which attracts many people to become traffickers and engage in this heinous
activity.
The concept of organ procurement (popularly known as organ harvesting) refers to the
surgical procedure that removes tissues or organs for reusing such organs through organ
transplantation. This medical procedure has become an offence as people are forced to sell their
organs or are often killed so that their organs can be reused for organ transplantation. The
victims of human trafficking are usually used for carrying out this activity in order to earn
significant monetary gains. In the legal context, the selling of a human organ is strictly illegal
but, given the high demand for human body organs, the traffickers usually find it economically
advantageous to sell the organs of even deceased persons like kidney, lungs or a lobe (Knight
2017).
Generally, the human organs of a deceased like the tissues in skin; bone etc can be used if
they are transplanted within 24 hours. However, the dealers of human organs usually sell dead
tissues at high prices to the doctors who are equally involved in the organ-harvesting racket and
retrieves huge monetary amount from the patient who are in need of such organs. However, at
times due to transplantation of dead tissues results in the death of the patients in spite of paying
millions, due to the criminal act of organ harvesting.
Badejo (2016) believes it is disgraceful that society in this contemporary era symbolizes
sale and theft of human body organs or parts as a successful international trade. The human
trafficking victims are easy targets to this brutal offence of organ harvesting. ABC (2014) states

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that the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons [NAPTIP] is
responsible for carrying out investigations related to organ harvesting. In Nigeria, some regions
disguise organ harvesting under the pretense of ritual killing, in addition to the use of human
trafficking as another significant source of organ harvesting.
According to Skilbrei and Holmström (2017), organ trafficking is another form of human
trafficking and is an organized crime and is generally carried out in three ways. Firstly, the
human traffickers shall entrap the victims in such a manner that they agree to surrender their
organs without any expense. Secondly, the con artists persuade the victims to sell the organs with
a false promise to pay or they usually pay less than what is agreed to be paid. Thirdly, doctors
who treat people or the victims in case of serious medical issue such as abortion or health
degradation may not be doctors at all or may remove the human body organs from the human
body without even notifying the patient.
Illegal adoption
Majority of times, nurses in the hospitals falsely inform the mothers that they have given
birth to a still baby where the babies are given for illegal adoption to wealthy families. This
happens the most with respect to women or young girls who are forced into prostitution or in any
other forms of sexual exploitations become pregnant. The babies that they give birth to are not
always sold to families that are interested to adopt a child but even to gang leaders who are
involved in all sorts of criminal activities so that the baby adds up to the number of criminals
who are already members of such criminal group.
Another scenario that is commonly prevalent with respect to illegal adoption is the selling
of their newborn by the mother herself. This may take place for two reasons. Firstly, the mother
does not want her child to grow up to be a sex worker or a pimp and become subjected to

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exploitation. Secondly, the mother being a young women in the majority of the cases, are forced
to depart from their newborn so that they can continue with their profession as a sex worker.
Most of the times, the traffickers run at loss if any of the trafficked victims are unable to carry
out illegal activities in which they have been engaged either due to their sickness or as they have
to take care of their children (Verhoeven 2017). This becomes a significant reason for selling the
newborn. Another scenario that is commonly observed under such circumstance where the
newborns are sold is that the mother of the newborn agrees to sell her child in exchange for a
deal that her child should not be subjected to any form of exploitation.
Thus, the demand for human parts and organs, adoption trade, illicit adoption, child-
soldiers in armed conflict are some of the common pull factors that are deeply rooted in the
Nigerian society. Further, the trends and infrastructure that are usually associated with a fast-
moving globalizing world like the better transport facilities, increasingly open borders, overall
migration flow all attributes to the incline in the trafficking in humans. Just as globalization has
given a new direction to those who are interested to migrate to the foreign countries, it has
equally enabled the traffickers to carry out human trafficking activities.
2.9. Structural factors for human trafficking in Nigeria
Nigeria’s slave trade
Following the broadcast of a CNN video which showed how black Africans were sold off
in slave markets and auctioned in Lybia, there has been an outcry against the grossest form
human rights violation. However, it has been noted by the New York Times that the reaction to
the slave trade has been silenced as there is a general consensus that these events are caused due
to the hard line policies of the European Union against migration across the Mediterranean Sea
from Africa (Abiodun et al. 2017). The European Authorities, in order to combat the waves of

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endless immigration and the attempt of such immigrants to reach Europe by crossing the sea,
have assisted the authorities of Lybia to intercept and return illegal immigrants to Lybia where
they are kept in detention centers. However, European authorities cannot be solely blamed for
the slave trade. It can be stated that the view of human trafficking in Nigeria is completely
different from the other African Countries. In Nigeria human trafficking is seen as a part of
everyday life. The human traffickers generally promise the victims of a better life. The parents
are taken in first and then the children are persuaded to leave their homes.
They are promised good schooling, a good job and regular income (Adejumo, Olu-
Owolabi and Fayomi 2015). A Nigerian woman reported that the traffickers transported her to
the North of Nigeria, to Mali, then to Morocco. From Morocco, she was smuggled into Spain in
a boat. From Spain, she was transported to Italy where she was forced to work as a prostitute.
By working as a prostitute for a period of seven months, she earned money to pay to the
traffickers. After the debts had been cleared, she was handed over to the Italian Immigration
authorities. Subsequently she was deported back to her home in Benin City. She recalls and
speaks of her story with discernible shame.
There have been many reported incidents involving a similar story. It has been estimated
by the UNICEF that human trafficking is more attractive and lucrative than any other Trade in
the countries of West Africa (Altun et al. 2017). According to the Reports of the UNICEF nearly
40 percent of the street kids in Nigeria have been bought and sold at some point of time in their
lives (Baarda 2016). Girls mostly are sold into prostitution or domestic services and boys are
sold as manual laborers in the plantation, or hawk vegetables and fruits in an open air market for
12 hours a day. It can be stated that children in Nigeria are forced to enter into the labor market
as soon as they become physically capable of lifting and carrying (Cannon et al. 2018). There are

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many children who are forced to work in mines and quarries since a very early age. It is
estimated by the UNICEF that nearly fifteen million children are forced to work in exploitative
conditions in Nigeria (Folami and Naylor 2017). This particular form of human rights violation,
human trafficking is supported by almost every levels of the society. The middle class of the
Nigeria have a plentiful supply of house girls and boys, who they buy from the villages in the
north (Hodge 2014). Slave trade can be said to be woven into the fabric of the society and
therefore has become an intricate part of daily life (Iyanda 2016). The root cause behind slave
trade can be said to be the acute poverty and the attitude of the people of Nigeria.
Boko Haram
Nigeria’s Islamist militant group has caused much havoc in the country through
assassinations, bombings and abductions. The objective of the group is to overthrow the Nigerian
government and form an Islamic State (John and Faith 2015). The Islamist extremist group
promotes a version of Islam which prohibits or restricts Muslims to take part in the social
activities which are associated with the western society (Kangaspunta 2015). The name of the
group Boko Haram loosely translates to forbidding Western Education:
Boko Haram is a Nigerian Islamist group. In a video message, the leader of Boko Haram,
Abubakar Shekau has claimed that he was responsible for kidnapping the hundreds of schoolgirls
and threatened to sell the school girls as slaves in the market. The leader of the Islamic
fundamentalist group, Mr. Shekau has said clearly in the video that Girls should not go to
schools which educate them in western education and should get married by the age of 9 and 12
(Kigbu and Hassan 2015). They claimed the girls to be their slaves. The video was received by
the news agencies and was similar to other videos purported by Boko Haram. Subsequent to the
exposure of the video, a rare anti-government protest had been ignited. It had also shamed and

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embarrassed the president Goodluck Jonathan as the government failed to rescue any of the
kidnapped girls.
The girls had been abducted from a school in a remote north eastern corner of Nigeria.
The Islamic fundamentalist extremist group had committed dozens of massacres in the 5 years of
its revolt against the Nigerian Government (Makinde 2016). The group aimed to destabilize and
over throw the Nigerian government. The kidnappings were the latest assault by the
aforementioned group. The other assaults by Boko Haram did not attract media attention beyond
Nigeria and were quickly forgotten. However, the latest assault of kidnapping the schoolgirls
was successful of attracting the attention of the International media. The United States under the
administration of Obama offered information and intelligence to the government of Nigeria and
the Nigerian Authorities, however the Nigerian Authorities declined to specify the federal
agencies who in charge of the investigation to find the kidnapped girls.
The American officials had indicated that most of the girls who had been kidnapped had
most likely been transported and smuggled out of the country (Mordeson, Mathew and Malik
2018). However, the American officials did not specify the countries to which the girls had been
transported as indicated by them. The message which had been contained in the video that was
made by the Boko Haram highlighted the fact that schools which imparted western education
were the primary targets of the Islamist fundamentalist group.
Recruited firms as agents of forced labor, human trafficking
Several recruitment agencies have been alleged to have engaged in human trafficking and
forced labor. Linda Eroke had written about the need to enforce strict regulations and promotions
of recruitment practices. Like most African Countries, Nigeria continues to be riddled with many
problems such as unemployment, acute poverty, natural disasters and the problem of human

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trafficking and forced labor which has undermined the essence of living (Morris 2017). It is
worth noting that each and every day hundreds of men, women and children are transported and
trafficked from one city to another city or to neighboring countries across continents with the
promise of a better life (Ofuoku and Uweru 2016). In the quest of searching for greener pastures,
people are forced into work and coerced to work in adverse work conditions.
They are made to work in strenuous work conditions for long hours and are not paid the
wages as promised to them. It has been assessed by the International labor organization that
people who find it difficult to escape from a situation can be described as those who have victims
of forced labor and human trafficking (Onuoha 2014). It can be stated that in Nigeria, there is a
very high demand for disposable and cheap labor as organizations, which are already
overburdened with the high cost of operations often, engage the services of private recruitment
agencies.
Modern scholars were of the perspective that, as a result of increase in global integration
of the national economies there has been major increase in the flow of goods, services and
capital information (Onweremadu et al. 2016). In this regard, modern researchers emphasized on
the part that as result of demographic changes, conflict and inequality people seeks to apply for
job opportunities away from the country in which they are living (Paraskevas and Brookes
2018). As a result of it, there has been emergence of various centers of global production as well
as increase in demand for services. In this context, various opportunities have arrived for both
skilled and semi-skilled workers.
It can be observed that people travel from one country to another in search of
employment and in such process they are caught in the trap of human trafficking. It is
noteworthy to mention here that, the trafficking of people for forced labor and sexual

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HUMAN TRAFFICKERS AND COMBATING HUMAN TARFFICKING IN NIGERIA
exploitation is one of the major concerns related to international criminal activity. In this regard,
it is worth mentioning that, there is a flow of human trafficking which can be observed from less
developed countries to high developed countries. Researchers wee of the opinion that, human
trafficking in cross international borders is more prevalent.
Contemporary scholars opined that, women workers who in search of jobs shifts to new
countries often gets trapped in the racket of human trafficking (Urama and Nwachukwu 2017).
As a result of existing issues of poverty and unemployment, people are forced to travel from one
country to another in search of job. As a result of high demand for cheap labor, these individuals
are employed in labor firms and paid a small amount of income. Authors emphasized on the part
that, in such process, the labors falls under the trap of human trafficking (Paraskevas . and
Brookes 2018).
Internal operations in the Nigerian transnational Human Trafficking Industry
The internal operations in the Nigerian transnational Human Trafficking Industry, is
focused on those people who crosses the international borders in search for employment
opportunities (Potrafke 2016). It is worth noting that, human trafficking is widely practiced in
those countries. Authors emphasized on the fact that, as a result of the ongoing issue of human
trafficking, victims are often forced to prostitution and in search of jobs these victims often land
up in big cities where there is high demand for these businesses (Ofuoku and Uweru 2016).
Women labors are often promised that they will be getting preferable jobs and in such process
they are sexually exploited (Weitzer 2015).
According to modern researchers, various common elements within the purview of
internal displacement are shared by the operations of internal trafficking (Kigbu and Hassan
2015). In this regard, scholars laid emphasis on the concept of internally displaced persons

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HUMAN TRAFFICKERS AND COMBATING HUMAN TARFFICKING IN NIGERIA
(IDPs). In the perspective of modern authors, individuals or group of individuals who are forced
or who often flee from their residential areas to countries not recognized as internationally
international boundary in search of employment and living can be referred to as internally
displaced persons.
It is worthwhile to refer here that, the problem of human trafficking is often associated
with forced and coerced movements. In most of the cases, the victims are kidnapped and forcibly
shifted to the location of crime (Onweremadu et al. 2016). On the other hand, according to the
evidences provided by modern researchers, it can be observed that, these human traffickers often
entice the victims by applying deception and by making fake promise in such process
(Mordeson, Mathew and Malik 2018). In most of the cases, the traffickers approach the families
of the victims as well for the purpose of offering employment. In this regard, it is noteworthy to
mention here that, the concepts of internal trafficking and internal displacement intersect with
each other in different aspects. It is worth mentioning that, from the very beginning, individuals
who are internally displaced as a result conflict and violations of human rights are found to be
more vulnerable to trafficking.
Modern autocrats opined that, these internally displaced persons as a result of loss of
family contract and community networks have become vulnerable to the trap of human
trafficking (John and Faith 2015). As a result of considerable increase of human trafficking
which involves various kinds of exploitations, peacekeeping forces have been employed in the
areas of crime for the purpose of eliminating trafficking (Paraskevas and Brookes 2018).
However, it has been observed that, these peacekeeping troops’ visits brothels and as a result of
which they are more responsible towards the contribution of internal and international human
trafficking.

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Authors emphasized that, in some cases, the concept of internal trafficking is closely
related to transnational trafficking (Folami and Naylor 2017). In this regard, mention can be
made about the number of victims who are internally displaced and are larger in number to those
victims who were forced to shift internationally. In spite of the implementation of various legal
and institutional frameworks, the issues related with victimization and the forceful crossing of
the borders has not been addressed. It is worthwhile to mention here that, factors involving
certainty and constraints of sovereignty have made it difficult for the law makers and the
government authorities to address the underlying issues of human trafficking (Baarda 2016).
Therefore, it is important to have appropriate knowledge regarding the interconnections existing
between internal trafficking and internal displacement.
These factors necessitates approaches that must be adopted to conduct further research
with respect to the various signs of human trafficking that is taking place within Nigeria,
especially the push and pull factors that are enhancing the vulnerability of people, especially,
women and children to human trafficking (Agbu and Agu 2017).
The incline in trafficking in humans calls for unambiguously developed strategies that are
necessary to combat with the growing human trafficking in Nigeria along with a national plan of
action. Smith (2017) believes that the implementation of such an action plan is only possible, if
adequate and reliable information can be received with the active cooperation and collaboration
of all the strategic stakeholders. Such stakeholders include NGOs, international agencies,
government as well as representatives from the rural and urban communities.

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2.10. Nigerian Legislative, policy and Institutional framework
The trafficking in person law enforcement and administration act enacted in the year 2003
which was amended in 2005 for the purpose of increasing penalties in relation to those who have
been found guilty of human trafficking expressly states that any form of human trafficking is
prohibited in Nigeria. According to the provisions of this legislation an imprisonment of up to 5
years along with a financial penalty of $670 is imposed on any person who has been found guilty
of indulging in labour trafficking. As per Baarda (2016), a person who is found guilty of offences
related to trafficking of children or forced Hawking on begging is subjected to an imprisonment
of up to 10 years.
A 10 years imprisonment sentences also imposed on any person who has found guilty of sex
trafficking along with stringent penalties which are provided in relation to other serious form of
crime such as rape. In the child rights act 2003 also provides that child trafficking is a criminal
offence however such legislation has only been enacted by 23 out of the 36 states in the country.
As stated by the constitution of Nigeria any law which is in relation to the rights of children fall
within the scope of the state purview therefore until and unless the individual States approved the
child rights act which cannot be in post in the respective state. The trafficking in persons act is
also in place to punish those who involve in the offence of human trafficking in Nigeria. There
had been many cases reported in relation to human trafficking in Nigeria where sentences range
from about a couple of months to a decade.
However there have been rare cases in which a person was able to avoid imprisonment by
paying financial penalties. The Government of Nigeria along with its International partners
provides special training to officers in relation to recognising, investigating and prosecuting
incidence of human trafficking. However John and Faith (2015) that the level of corruption in

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HUMAN TRAFFICKERS AND COMBATING HUMAN TARFFICKING IN NIGERIA
the country makes the police officers along with immigration officers and those who are at
airports and border posts to accept Bribes and not pay attention to human trafficking crime have
argued it.
Abiodun et al. (2017) states that there are various organisations which operate in Nigeria for
the purpose of addressing the issue of human trafficking. Devatop Centre for Africa development
is a non-profit body which emphasizes on dealing with issues relating to human trafficking, child
abuse, gender based violence and providing support to vulnerable children. This body is led by
young leaders and has been one of the leading organisations in combating human trafficking
related issues in Nigeria. Young people are engaged by the body so that human trafficking in the
country can be abolished.
Another non profit organisation which operates in Nigeria is the women trafficking and child
labour eradication Foundation which implements several strong measures for the purpose of
restricting child labour and women trafficking. A few other organisations which are involved in
addressing the issue related to human trafficking in Nigeria such as coalition against human
trafficking and sexual exploitation of children, viable knowledge master, women's consortium of
Nigeria. There have been various cases in the country related to human trafficking and some of
those cases are discussed in this section of the paper.
The vulnerability in relation to re-trafficking has been highlighted in the case of HD (Trafficked
Women) Nigeria CG [2016] UKUT 00454 (IAC). Those migrants who have been trafficked are
most vulnerable. The issue which arises is that there is no platform through which traffic person
can prove that they will face a risk of persecution if they are return to their original country. Prior
to the decision of the court inthis case where a woman who had been traffic to prove that she
would be subjected to a risk of persecution in case she is returned to Nigeria she had to establish

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the requirements under the guidance laid down in the case of PO (trafficked women) Nigeria
[2009] UKAIT 00046.
Evidence had to be provided by her in this situation that she had been referred by a gang who
had the intention of target earnings with respect to money and their target has not been met.
However this guidance is no longer valid as it was extremely limited.
In this case a modern approach in relation to vulnerability of re trafficking has been taken by the
court. For the purpose of assessing vulnerability the court stated that factors including the fact
that the person does not have social support network, mental health conditions which was the
result of the abuse. Such person was subjected to when he or she had been originally traffic or
no education or vocational skills and financial and materials deprivation have to be taken into
consideration.
It was held by the court in this there is a distinction between individuals with respect to the
level of risk they have of being trafficked. Individuals were divided by the court in this case high
risk and low risk individuals. The court provided certain factors which can identify enhanced risk
in relation to a person. These factors include not having a supportive family who is willing to
take such person back into the family unit, discernible or visible characteristics of vulnerability, a
woman who had been trafficked previously suggest that she has the characteristics of
vulnerability which the traffickers identified in the first place and can identify again.
Another case in which provisions related to human trafficking had been discussed is the case
of PO (Nigeria) and Secretary of State for the Home Department [2011] EWCA Civ 132. In this
case it was held by the court that an inappropriate burden had been imposed on the appellant for
the purpose of establishing before the court by giving personal evidence that there was a gang

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HUMAN TRAFFICKERS AND COMBATING HUMAN TARFFICKING IN NIGERIA
involved the situation. In this case the court of appeal rejected the judgement of the Lower court
and remitted the case for reconsideration to the upper Tribunal.
In the case of KO (Nigeria) (Appellant) v Secretary of State for the Home Department
(Respondent) UKSC 2016/0107 the issue before the Court was that whether or Tribunal or a
Court has the power to take into consideration misconduct of parents. It may consider the same
when dealing with the question that whether the result of reporting a child with whom of foreign
criminal has a parental relationship is to be regarded as 'unduly harsh'. However in this case the
decision provided by the upper Tribunal had been upheld by the court of appeal stating that such
a situation cannot be considered as unduly harsh with respect to the provisions of section 117c(5)
of the nationality immigration and Act 2002.
In the case of AA (Nigeria) v Secretary of State for The Home Department [2012] EWCA
Civ 111 the issue before the court was in relation to immigration deportation. In this case the
court of appeal has rejected the appeal made by the secretary of state in relation to the
deportation of respondents who had right to permanently stay in the United Kingdom being a
member of a EEA nations. It was stated by the court in this case that when the legislative
schemes are properly constructed along with Case laws provided by the Court of Justice of
European Union a mere reason of criminality which results into an imprisonment cannot restrict
the right of recipient of a person.
2.11. Governmental approaches to combat human trafficking in Nigeria
It has been argued by Leary (2015) that human trafficking is one of the most endemic Global
problems. The problem is significantly worse when it comes to Nigeria. There have been several
approaches which has been taken by the Nigerian government to tackle the issue related to

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HUMAN TRAFFICKERS AND COMBATING HUMAN TARFFICKING IN NIGERIA
human trafficking from the country. In relation to understanding the approaches taken by the
government it is important to understand the conditions in which the offence of human
trafficking is facilitated. The primary factor, which facilitates human trafficking in Nigeria, is
lack of awareness. Irrespective of an aggressive education campaign carried out by the
government the dangers of human trafficking is not widely known to the public who are ignorant
about the situation.
The awareness program initiated by the government have considered to be failed as it has not
been able to target the population, which is at risk, or address the requirements of the local
communities. In addition has most Nigerians are not able to understand what is human
trafficking and they are forced into sexual slavery. Because of this and awareness the general
population lacks empathy in relation to sexual slavery victims. Another problem, which can be
considered as the heart of human trafficking in Nigeria, is that of poverty. Although most of the
country gets significance revenue through sale of oil the general public is deprived of such
benefits you to corruption in the country. The average income of over 70% Nigerians is less than
$1 a day. False Promises of vocational training, marriage and Employment is provided by the
traffic was to the public enticing them to go abroad.
Children are also pushed into the arms of the traffickers by desperate parents who are in need
of a source of income. It has been argued by Campana (2015) that Nigeria is plagued by
corruption at every level in the society. It is one of the major factors which facilitate human
traffickingin the country.It has been for the stated by Onweremadu et al. (2016) that there is a
very high level of corruption in Nigeria which would not allow the implementation of any
government measure to address the issue of human trafficking successfully. It is common in
Nigeria that judges are bribed for the purpose of achieving a favourable outcome. In addition the

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HUMAN TRAFFICKERS AND COMBATING HUMAN TARFFICKING IN NIGERIA
Nigerian police is viewed as one of the most corrupted part of the society. It has been reported by
various trafficking often does that they have been asked for a bribe by the law enforcement
officers before they had been subjected to prosecution.
Gender discrimination is also one of the most serious problems which relates to human
trafficking in Nigeria. Equality has been provided by the Nigerian constitution irrespective of
gender to every person before law. Cruel and in human treatment along with forced labour and
slavery is specifically prohibited by chapter IV article 34 (1)(a)-(c). However a little effect has
been seen of these modified prohibitions on the practical society in Nigeria with respect to
gender discrimination. Human trafficking in Nigeria comprises of more than 70% of women
only. This discrimination provides an opportunity to the traffic was to gain and unrestricted
supply of children and women.
There have been several approaches taken by the Nigerian government to prevent human
trafficking which are discussed below:
Prosecution
One of the primary approaches which is taken by the Nigerian government in relation to
human trafficking is that of prosecution. The government has enacted the 2003 Trafficking in
Person (Prohibition) Law Enforcement Act. This act has been initiated in compliance of article 5
of the Palermo protocol. Through this legislation human trafficking has been criminalized and
severe pain all these have been imposed on anyone who is found to indulge in such activities.
Through this legislation anyone who has been found to promote and organise foreign travel
can be sentence up to a period of 10 years. These provisions can be applied for the purpose of
prosecuting any person who fakes travel documents or makes arrangements of trafficking victims
of abroad. The extraterritorial tools provided by the legislation work together for the purpose of

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HUMAN TRAFFICKERS AND COMBATING HUMAN TARFFICKING IN NIGERIA
discouraging traffickers from indulging in such conduct and depicting that the authorities are
serious about human trafficking related activities. In addition to such provisions the legislation
also targets travel agents and Tour operators who are required to add specific terms into their
contract with foreign suppliers.
Protection
The legislation also establishes programs and policies having the purpose of protecting
human trafficking victims in order to comply with the requirements under Palermo protocol. The
national agency for Prohibition of trafficking in person and related matters has been created by
the Nigerian government which plays a significant role in relation to providing protection to
those who has been subjected to human trafficking. Investigative authority has been provided to
this agency along with the role of undertaking preventive and protective measures which
includes keeping an eye on rehabilitation of victims of human trafficking. Abolishment of
discrimination against those who have been subjected to human trafficking is also looked after
by this agency.
Prevention
The legislation conducts large-scale public awareness for the purpose of a lighting the
general public about the evils of human trafficking. The agency established under the legislation
works along with several NGOs to education needs of the citizens in relation to human
trafficking. The agency also provides training to officers, police so that they can identify human
trafficking, and take actions to prevent them (Onweremadu et al. 2014).
Decreasing trafficking to the decrease in supply
The government of Nigeria as realize that investing in education is one of the most effective
ways of tackling human trafficking in the country. However not much has been done by the

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HUMAN TRAFFICKERS AND COMBATING HUMAN TARFFICKING IN NIGERIA
government in relation to making the people aware about the demerits of human trafficking like
it has been done in Mexico through their opportunities program. This is a program through which
low income families are encouraged to invest in the education of their children.
This is done by providing incentives to the poor families when they send their children to
school. The program found a notable increase of 20% participation of girls in education.
Consideration has to be made by the Nigerian government towards investigating into such
incentive programs. However the history of corruption with the country has it is difficult to
implement any program successfully. It has been argued by Onuoha (2014) that one of the soul
reasons why the programs implemented by the Nigerian government towards addressing the
problems of human trafficking have failed is that they have not been able to provide proper
employment to women in the country.
If the women are provided an opportunity to make a living for themselves and support their
families the majority of problems related to human trafficking would be resolved. Local
educational programs have been implemented by private corporations in the country however
due to a lack of a large scale approach they have not shown considerable results. The
government can also consider taking into account micro financing initiatives which have been
proved to be successful towards increasing women income in areas subjected to poverty.
Although and effort has been made by the government to provide opportunities to the women to
enhance their participation in the society these efforts have not been large scale and subsequently
have failed to depict considerable results (Savona, Giommoni and Mancuso 2014).
Human trafficking can also be targeted by decreasing demand. This can be done through
increasing penalties for those officers who had acted in a corrupt manner and initiating
educational programs for those who have been convicted of these offences. It has been identified

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HUMAN TRAFFICKERS AND COMBATING HUMAN TARFFICKING IN NIGERIA
above that one of the main reasons because of which human trafficking prevail in Nigeria is that
of corrupt government officials. By making stronger laws in relation to corruption in the country
the government would be able to successfully tackle the problem of human trafficking as the
implementation of government initiatives would become easier and effective (Iyanda 2016).
2.12. Success of the Government to prevent human trafficking in Nigeria
aAdejumo, Olu-Owolabi and Fayomi (2015) argued that the approaches taken by the
Nigerian government towards tackling the problem of human trafficking in the country have
depicted mixed results . On the other hand it has been stated by Kigbu and Hassan (2015) that
government approaches towards addressing human trafficking have predominantly failed in the
country as human trafficking statistics are significantly increasing and there is no sign of any halt
in relation to the matter. Despite the effort of the Nigerian government for the purpose of
eradicating human trafficking from its borders there is much more which could and should have
been done in the situation.
There are various factors which together make the environment in Nigeria suitable for human
trafficking which includes corruption, poverty and gender discrimination. In order to reduce
human trafficking in Nigeria the government has to wage a War in relation to addressing the
problems of corruption and poverty in the country (Makinde et al. 2017). When the human
traffickers would come to know that the law enforcement officials are not accepting any bribes
they would have to move their operations from Nigeria to elsewhere. In addition by combating
against corruption money which is presently going into the pockets of law enforcement and
government officials can be utilized towards public goods such as education and economic
development of the country.

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HUMAN TRAFFICKERS AND COMBATING HUMAN TARFFICKING IN NIGERIA
This approach will ensure that opportunities are created within the country for economic
advancement and would subsequently eradicate the need for women employment opportunities
overseas. In addition women and second class citizens in the society and therefore they should be
treated with respect and dignity by their own government. Educational and social programs have
to be implemented by the Nigerian government with the purpose of enhancing the status of
women in the society. The government should also provide effort in relation to reducing the
demand for commercial sexual exploitation through enactment of legal provisions having severe
penalties for those who indulgent to soliciting prostitutes along with taking initiatives related to
education for enhancing the Awareness of potential victims towards the demerits of prostitution.
If the government takes an aggressive stance its can become one of the leaders in the fight
against human trafficking in the whole continent and can be looked upon by other countries as an
example. The measures, which have been taken by the government, look strong in paper and
theory but are not very effective in the environment of Nigeria as their practical implementation
has not depicted the desired results.
3.0. Research Methodology
Research methodology is the particular technique or procedure that is used to process,
identify, select and analyze about the given topic. While writing a research paper, the research
methodology section enables the reader to assess the reliability and validity of such research
study critically. The research methodology used to complete this dissertation is qualitative
research methodology using the secondary data sources. A secondary data analysis uses sources
like journals, books, articles, newspapers, diaries, documentaries, reports, etc to obtain
information that has been already used by another researcher.

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HUMAN TRAFFICKERS AND COMBATING HUMAN TARFFICKING IN NIGERIA
3.1. Data collection method
The researcher has selected the secondary method of data collection for the purpose of
carrying out the research. Data has been collected by the researcher through the use of sources
like books, journal articles and reports. The researcher only selected peer reviewed journal
articles for the purpose of this research. The researcher has also indulged into collecting data
from government websites in order to ensure the authenticity of the data. This way of collecting
the data has been selected by the researcher as there have been various researches conducted in
relation to the topic of human trafficking and its existence in Nigeria.
3.2. Ethical consideration
The researcher is aware about the importance of conducting the research in an ethical
way. An unethically conducted research takes place when the researcher uses illegal ways in
relation to collecting information for the researcher. However, in relation to this research the
researcher has derived information by taking into consideration the data protection and copyright
legislations of the country. The researcher has also ensured that all material which is taken from
the works of other is provided due credit by referencing the sources though the Harvard
referencing system. The researcher has breached no laws for conducting the research.
3.3. Limitation of research
The researcher had been subjected to significant difficulties in relation to conducting this
research. The collection of data for this research was expensive and time consuming. Most of the
data available was paid and thus the researcher had to invest both time and money to gain access
to such data.
4.0. Conclusion

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HUMAN TRAFFICKERS AND COMBATING HUMAN TARFFICKING IN NIGERIA
Human trafficking remains a great threat to society and humanity. It impedes socio-
economic growth of a nation by affecting human capital, which forms the foundation for national
development. It weakens the potential of a nation to develop by hampering the aspiration of the
youth of the country. The offence of human trafficking has undoubtedly ruined the future of
several victims especially that of the women and girls, whose dreams and aspirations have been
shattered into pieces (Oluyombo et al. 2016). As observed in the above discussion, women and
girls are usually allured of good education, jobs and a better life while they fall prey to the evil
clutches of human trafficking. At times, they give up their dreams in order to keep their families
alive and force themselves into the dark world of inhumanity and exploitation. The male victims
are no exception as the treacherous world of human trafficking cage their potentialities, overturn
their destinies and destroy their dreams as well.
These shattered dreams and wrecked lives can be attributed to the growing and active
participation of the three branches of the government. Despite the legislations in place, its non-
implementation has given rise to trafficking in persons (Williams et al. 2017). While some law
enforcement agencies or honest officials are striving hard to prevent the occurrence of such
crimes, at the same time, some other dishonest law enforcement officials are facilitating the
traffickers in destroying the lives of millions. Similarly, lack of opportunities, insufficient
knowledge about the human rights and inaccessibility to justice has tied the hands of judiciary to
administer justice to the victims and unmask the traffickers who disguise themselves as any other
law-abiding civilians.
The dissertation paper has attempted to address the research questions regarding the
various root causes that are attributing to the rising rate in human trafficking in Nigeria. The
paper has carefully categorized the several root causes as push and pulls factors, which have

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HUMAN TRAFFICKERS AND COMBATING HUMAN TARFFICKING IN NIGERIA
been described as the demand and supply factors in human trafficking. Amongst the push factors,
poverty is the most important driving factors that leads to trafficking as children, young males,
females, women are recruited in activities like forced labor, prostitution, organ harvesting, illegal
adoption, domestic slaves, etc. While the traffickers entrap some families by making false
promises about giving a better life to their children, giving them the opportunity to receive
education, providing them with employment opportunities, etc, some families voluntarily send
their children with the traffickers so that he or she can earn money for them (Fraser 2016).
In addition, amongst the pull factors, greed and employment opportunities are some of
the most important driving force that leads to human trafficking. While some victims are
trafficked against their wishes and forced into exploitative activities, at the same time, some
people voluntarily take part in the exploitative activities, given that there is low unemployment
rate in Nigeria, the illegal activities enable them to earn more money and live a better life. Once
they voluntarily agree to carry out acts like prostitution, sex workers and other illegal acts, they
feel reluctant to return to their old lives. Further, the fact that they are capable of supporting their
family, the victims often do not wish to return home.
Here, it can be stated that causes may be common in human trafficking but the
circumstances that led them into the world of trafficking may differ which usually depend upon
the need of the trafficked persons. The victims are often trafficked by making false promises of
being able to support her or his family or they often voluntarily agree to the performance of such
illegal activities in order to lead a better life and escape from the present situation in which they
are surviving (Yousaf and Purkayastha 2016).
Under such circumstances, while the youths are being encouraged to stand up against the
human trafficking, it is equally important that government play a significant role in overcoming

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HUMAN TRAFFICKERS AND COMBATING HUMAN TARFFICKING IN NIGERIA
the human trafficking. Despite the various legislations in place concerning safeguard human
rights and prevent any person from being subjected to exploitation. The Federal agency,
NAPTIP, must undertake responsibility to combat human trafficking (Kierans 2016). Although
the government has attempted to implement several action plans and policies, it cannot be said
that the government has been successful in deterring the commission of the trafficking offences.
The government is alleged to have been active only after a crime is reported or has drawn
considerable attention of the media as well as the public.
Efrat (2016) wonders that corruption in the law enforcement agencies and within very
governmental framework shall impede the prevention of heinous offences that are carried out
under human trafficking. Government must ensure that the Trafficking in Persons [TIP] Act is
strictly enforced without making any compromise. In addition to the TIP Act, there is a need to
implement protection policies for the most vulnerable population that is the women and young
children and the victims in Nigeria. This is because the victims which includes women and
young girls especially, usually hesitate to return to their homeland or village due to the fear of
social stigma and loss of reputation of her family members. Further, they also fear if the
traffickers come back for them and cause harm to her family. They feel reluctant to be identified
by their own names even only to conceal their original identity, as they fear that they might not
be acceptable in the society. This way the victims are often deprived of after care and once they
are detached from their family, there is no way back to their home.
In order to ensure that such victims have access to workshops, trauma recovery centers
and any other relevant medical as well as social assistance, which will help them lead a normal
life once again. This necessitates both the state as well as federal governments to ensure adequate
funds are provided to agencies that purport to undertake measures against human trafficking.

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HUMAN TRAFFICKERS AND COMBATING HUMAN TARFFICKING IN NIGERIA
Trafficking is perceived as a development concern that must be addressed using a balanced,
integrated and layered approaches that are based on the right-based standards and principles
(McIntyre 2018).
5.0. Recommendation
From the evidence provided by modern researchers, it can be observed that the
government of Nigeria did not contribute much towards the elimination of human trafficking.
However, favorable efforts were made on the part of the government officials in relation to
investigation, prosecution and the conviction of the human traffickers (Makinde et al. 2016).
Various anti-trafficking training was conducted in which the officials of law enforcement
effectively participated however; it did not do much in identifying the victims of Nigerian human
trafficking (Hodge 2014). It was observed with the implementation of anti-trafficking laws by
the Nigerian law-makers; the government maintained the enforcement of these anti-trafficking
laws however; it was actively involved in the menace of human trafficking as well (Iyanda
2016). In order to penalize the continuation of the issue of human trafficking, it is important to
recommend certain measures which could be adopted by the government authorities in order to
eliminate trafficking completely. The recommendations can be emphasized below:
I. It is important on the part of the Nigerian government to implement various anti-
trafficking laws and at the same time ensure their efficient functioning. In this regard, the
Nigerian government has amended the provisions of the Trafficking in Persons Law
Enforcement and Administration Act for the purpose of criminalizing the existing forms
of trafficking by prescribing a minimum penalty along with an imprisonment of five
years (Urama and Nwachukwu 2017). However, the punishment for human trafficking
involving children for sexual exploitation like rape shall be increased to a period of ten

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HUMAN TRAFFICKERS AND COMBATING HUMAN TARFFICKING IN NIGERIA
years with fine. It is evident that law enforcement remained inefficient within some
sections of the country (Morris 2017). Therefore, it can be recommended that, it is
essential on the part of the government officials to identify the cases that involves human
trafficking and in such process shall address the existing jurisdictional problems between
the federal and state governments and why they failed to take effective measures.
II. It is known to all that, since time immemorial, corruption highly affected the operation of
government activities. As a result of which, the government officials and the security
forces did not play their roles actively in the elimination of human trafficking. Therefore,
it can be recommended that the government should involve in active investigation
regarding the fact that the officials must play their roles significantly towards the
elimination of the menace of both child and human trafficking. In such process, the
government of Nigeria must prosecute officials and the security forces that violated the
laws enforced by the government (Ofuoku and Uweru 2016).
III. It is important to prevent the issue of human trafficking from spreading worldwide. The
government must increase efforts on its part to prevent human trafficking (Potrafke
2016). Various human awareness campaigns must be conducted in order to educate the
general public regarding the dangers involved with the operation of human trafficking.
IV. Various action plans needs to be implemented in order to provide adequate protection to
the workers employed in the system of informal economy (Weitzer 2015). Various
national policy and actions plans needs to be implemented on the operations of labor
migration in order to manage the requirement of licensing for the operations of all the
private labor recruitment agencies.

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