The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, while quoting data from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) report, said $169.9billion of the huge illic-it cash was from sexual exploitation, and $75.9billion from forced labour in the private sector, including domestic servitude.
He stated these in Abuja yesterday at the 28th National Stakeholders Consultative Forum to commemorate the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons with the theme: “Human Trafficking is Organised Crime-End the Exploitation”.
Fagbemi, however, noted that efforts by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) had led to the rescue of 25,642 victims and arrest of 11,406 suspected traffickers.
He added that 750 convictions had been secured since NAPTIP’s inception.
Fagbemi, while stating that human trafficking could not be addressed in isolation, called for joint efforts to combat the menace.
He said human trafficking affects the country’s national security negatively because Nigeria is a source, transit and destination country for trafficking.
He said: “Human trafficking is organised crime and transnational as it is planned and carried out by groups in a structured manner. It is a deeply coordinated criminal enterprise, and the prima-ry goal of the perpetrators is economic gain from the exploitation of others, irrespective of who the victim is.
“Human traffickers attempt to insulate both their leadership and membership from detection, sanction, and prosecution through their organisational structure. This crime can be local, na-tional or transnational and constitutes threats to persons and their families, Communities and nations. It is affecting our national security negatively as Nigeria is a Source, Transit and Desti-nation country for trafficking.’’
Director-General of NAPTIP, Binta Bello, said traffickers entrap victims through loan-for-sex trafficking schemes.
She said through the scheme, unsuspecting women are deceived by fraudulent online loan offers.
According to her, “These women, often in desperate need of financial assistance, are trapped in cycles of exploitation when they are coerced into prostitution, or other forms of sexual exploi-tation under the pretext of repaying these non-existent debts. This method preys on economic vulnerability and is facilitated largely through unregulated digital platforms”.
She explained: “Upon arrival in foreign countries, victims are stripped of their freedoms and subjected to forced labour or sexual exploitation. These deceptive tactics not only exploit the ambition and dreams of our youth but also undermine legitimate labour migration and interna-tional academic exchange”.
The operations of a 10-man human trafficking syndicate has been bursted by the Niger State Po-lice Command, rescuing 36 youths of various countries such as Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Burkina-Faso and Guinea who were without documents.
The syndicate specialises in international human trafficking of unsuspecting victims to various locations through false pretence as they act as travel agents.
The suspects who were non-Nigerians were Sokou Doumbia, Thiarno Balbe, Hashimu Dauda Ko-lo, Usman Doumbia, Musa Konate, Lamine Watara, Racine Diouf, Adamu Zarbu, Alhassan Konde, Dango Aminatu.
According to the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Superintendent of Police Abiodun Wasiu, the suspects were arrested about 12.30pm on July 18, based on credible intelligence re-ceived of their activities on 123 Quarters, Minna.
He said the suspects were discovered to be indigenous in various neighbouring West African Countries and could basically speak in French, except their Nigerian collaborator, Hashimu who provides accommodation for the syndicate in Minna.
Abiodun said that the suspects had claimed they had come to Nigeria for an online business adding that all suspects and the victims have been transferred to the Interpol for further investi-gation and other necessary actions.
We often recover lifeless girls’ bodies from sea – Community leader
Immigration officials accused of compounding crime
Global attention has constantly been fixed on how migrants perish on the Mediterranean Sea with some others stranded on various routes, but not many are aware that similar ugly developments occur right here in Nigeria, Lagos to be precise. From Mile 2 to Seme Border, human traffickers move hapless young girls in droves on land and waterways to neighbouring countries with reckless abandon. While some of them get sexually exploited even by security operatives, many others are left stranded on the way. Like dead fish, several others drown and float on the sea with no means of tracing their relations even after their bodies are recovered. INNOCENT DURU reports.
“When there is a serious storm on the sea, many of the girls end up dying like flies on this Badagry Sea. At various times, our people have recovered dead bodies from the sea.’
Those were the words of Alhaja Oke, a community leader in Badagry area of Lagos State, about how the activities of human traffickers have cruelly brought promising lives of many young girls to a tragic end.
Findings showed that the land and the waterway connecting Nigeria to Cotonou in Benin Republic from Mile 2 area of Lagos State have continued to be exploited unfettered by human traffickers to carry out their nefarious activities.
When an accident occurs, especially on the waterways, Alhaja Oke said “there is always no means of contacting their families because the victims often don’t have means of identification on them. They often travel without informing their family members.”
Explaining how the human traffickers operate, she said: “From Mile 2, they take them on water straight to Cotonou pretending they are going there to buy goods.
“They used to traffic them across the water when we must have gone to bed. They do this in the dead of the night.
“They take many young girls across the sea and seriously endanger their lives by so doing.”
The dark complexioned woman described the challenge of human trafficking in the Badagry-Seme corridor as grave and disturbing.
“How they handle these young girls is worrisome,” she said, visibly agitated.
Decrying young girls’ penchant for jumping at every promise made to them for pecuniary gains, she asked rhetorically, “Which money are those girls even looking for travelling in that manner?
“They deceive them that there is money in XYZ, but when they get there, it is dogs that they would be made to sleep with. What is the benefit of the whole trouble?”
Alhaja Oke noted that it is the failure of our young ones, girls in particular, to hustle that is causing all this. It was in the past that it was fashionable and rewarding to travel to other countries. It is not so anymore this time around because they always end up making a mess of the girls.”
She hinted that her community members are taking practical steps to end the menace in their domain.
“We are making the waterways impassable this time around. The intervention of our people is helpstentor stem the tide,” she said.
Also corroborating Alhaja Oke’s remarks, another community member, Abbey, said: “It’s no joke that these guys traffic young girls out of the country using the waterways.
“Many young girls have lost their lives travelling on the water. From Mile 2 to Cotonou on water is just about 40 to 50 minutes.
“They always see it as faster and devoid of bottlenecks that come with travelling by the expressway where you have more than 40 checkpoints from Agbara to Seme.
“From all indications, human trafficking in this axis has become a cash cow carried out without concerns about the safety of the girls.
“Girls are just like sacrificial lambs.”
Aside from waterways, findings further showed, the Mile 2- Seme Road has been a natural route constantly exploited by human traffickers.
Following the inability of relevant government agencies to nip the challenge in the bud, checks showed that non-state actors have begun to incept victims and deal with suspected traffickers in the most savage manner.
A transporter in the Seme axis, who gave his name simply as Senyon, said they have on many occasions battered suspected human traffickers to serve as deterrence to others.
“We always come across human traffickers in this area. They always move about in the night. Each time we sight them, we would deal with them mercilessly because they are always out to destroy the lives of the young girls,” he said.”
Citing some instances where they beat the hell out of some traffickers after rescuing the young girls, Senyon said: “We called a trafficker one day after arresting the young girls he was coordinating their movement.
“When he answered our call, he was saying all manner of things. When he came to our place, he twisted the whole issue.
“When our boys started beating him mercilessly, he calmed down.
“We made him to understand that the girls did not have money and must go back home.”
“Seeing that his life was in serious danger, the trafficker quickly called his partner in Cotonou.
“Ironically, some immigration officials work hand in hand with these traffickers.
“The Cotonou partner of the trafficker sent N300,000 when we insisted that we would not leave the trafficker we had arrested.
“The money was sent through an immigration officer.
“After collecting the money, we contacted the families of the girls and put them in a vehicle that conveyed them back to Mile 2 from where they went back to where they came from.
“We were able to do that with the help of the money we got from the trafficker and his Cotonou ally.”
Not too long ago, he said “we identified and picked out about 17 young girls being trafficked across this corridor.
“As the girls were arriving, they kept gathering them on one side of the road.
“As the girls arrived in different buses, those guys controlling their movement would keep them with others.
“One of our guys suspected they were up to some sinister motives and drew our attention to them.
“When we approached them, one of them demanded to know what our business was with their movement. We apprehended the guys and beat them beyond recognition.
“They begged to give us money to end the matter but we refused, because we weren’t sure what they were up to with the girls.
“They were to hand over the girls to a woman in Cotonou. Fortunately, they had sufficient money, about N400, 000 on them.
“With that money, we facilitated the return of the girls back to their basis.
“Some of our guys followed them to Mile 2 to put them in night bus back to their states.”
Senyon regretted that “some of the girls have been so brainwashed that you can hardly advise them against their plan. No matter what you tell them, their mind is bent on embarking on that perilous journey.”
Other transporters share experience
Also attesting to the menace of human traffickers in the area, another transporter who gave his name as Ballo said: “Traffickers use this Badagry axis a great deal.
“Recently, we identified some young girls who were being trafficked. We sat in one of our parks and heard them saying ‘we have been here since and nobody is here to pick us’.
“The girls were within the age range of14 and 15 years. Some of them were just developing breasts.
“When we observed what was going on, I was touched, because some of us also have young girls like them as children.
“Why would anyone traffic such innocent young girls to do such dirty jobs?
“After thinking of what we could do, we tried searching for a police van stationed at the roundabout earlier.
“But when we saw that the officers had left, we called their office.
“By that time, the girls were seated, anxiously waiting for the next person in the chain of trafficking them.
“The police came and whisked them away.
“Three days after, the police brought them to our park to transport them to Mile 2 for onward journey to their various states.
“Before they brought them to us, it was like the police had counseled them about the perilous nature of the journey they had embarked on, because the girls looked calm and sober when they brought them to us.”
He added that they made some young girls they caught recently to know that their traffickers did not mean well for them.
“One of them said they told them that they were going to work in a supermarket in the place they were being trafficked to, but we told her it is not true; that they were only taking them out for prostitution and at the end of the day, they would not return with anything but would only return to Nigeria with ailments.”
A motorcyclist, who operates around Owode area, said: “We have been witnessing human trafficking on this corridor for quite some time.”
The motorcyclist, who gave his name simply as Kola, said: “When some suspected victims come to our park and you seriously drill them, some of them will tell you they don’t know where they are going to; that they were just told that they were going to look for a job for them outside the country.
“When you ask them about the person that is taking them outside the country for a job, they will tell you they can’t find the person anymore.
“What we do in that regard is to take the person to the nearest security operatives’ office.”
Continuing, he said: “Recently, at about 11pm, a lady ran into a compound in our neighbourhood.
“People were about beating her, but when she explained her predicament, they stopped.
“She told us she refused to be trafficked and ran into the neighbourhood.
“When my attention was drawn to it, I took her to a security post around our area.”
Community members accuse immigration officers of complicity
Efforts to eradicate or bring to the barest minimum the menace of human trafficking may not yield the needed fruits anytime soon. This is as people living along the border area have accused immigration officials and other security agencies of aiding or being actively involved in the crime.
A Seme resident who preferred to be called Jato said the notoriety of immigration officials around Badagry roundabout became so embarrassing that the authorities ordered a bar where they parked to traffic people to chase them away or face the music.
“That brought about the placement of the bold Stop Human Trafficking inscription around the bar.”
The idea was to prevent them from continuing to use that place as a point of trafficking people.”
Jatto’s claim about the bold inscriptions 88was confirmed when our correspondent visited the Badagry roundabout.
The inscriptions were boldly and conspicuously displayed in front the bar on the side of the road to Mile 2.
Before now, Jatto said, “human traffickers used to hide young ladies they wanted to traffic at Ashipa area in Seme but with the full involvement of immigration officials in the illicit act now, it is no longer common to find young girls hidden in the area again.
“The officers use their clout to move them straight across the border instead of how regular human traffickers would initially keep the girls at Ashipa and environs waiting for signal before moving them to the other side of the border.”
Senyon, the transporter alleged that “Immigration officials go as far as Ojota to go and convey these girls. We have had issues with them on many occasion over their activities. There was one day they brought some girls who paid them N80,000 each in a Sienna bus from Seme. The girls were eight in number and they were heading to Mile 2. When the immigration guys got to Badagry, they decided to put them in an 18-passenger bus against the initial agreement that the Sienna would take them to Mile 2.
“The girls engaged the officers in a serious shouting match, saying that they paid N80,000 each to take us across the border and taken to Mile 2 but were dropped at Badagry Roundabout to put them in a regular bus. Ordinarily, the fare from Seme to Mile 2 is not more than N3000 but because they were using their uniforms to aid human trafficking, and exploit the victims, they charged the girls N80,000 each.
“Nobody stops them when they are moving people across the borders. The most they do is to tip their colleagues on duty. They are the ones that are heavily involved in human trafficking. The local guys involved in human trafficking are operating at a very low level compared to the large scale level immigration officials operate. People wishing to be trafficked also prefer to board vehicles driven by immigration officers because they believe that they are protected when conveyed by them. A good number of immigration officers in this axis have human trafficking as a huge source of revenue.
Another resident who gave his name as Johnson said: “In my border community, there’s an immigration checkpoint that should serve as a line of protection, but sadly, it has often become a place of fear and exploitation. There have been disturbing cases where immigration officers abuse their power — including sleeping with young female travelers under the guise of “clearance” or documentation, even when these women are traveling within Nigeria.
“It’s painful to witness, especially knowing that some of these women are simply trying to cross to nearby towns for trade, education, or family visits. Instead of being protected, they’re harassed and humiliated. This abuse of power fosters silence and discourages victims from speaking out.”
Johnson noted that these realities highlight the urgent need for reform, human rights training for officers, community awareness, and safe reporting systems. “We must continue to raise our voices and protect the dignity of our people, especially the most vulnerable.”
We’ll investigate allegations –NIS
The Nigeria Immigration Service says it will investigate all the allegations raised by residents.
The National spokesman of the service, Akinsola Akinlabi, disclosed this in his rfeply to our inquiries.
His words: “It is important to state here that Nigeria Immigration Service, under the leadership of the CGI Kemi Nanna Nandap has zero tolerance to any form of indiscipline, crime or criminalities among our officers and men. Again, the measures put in place by the Service are too formidable for our men to get involved in cases of Human Trafficking.
“As a matter fact, NIS only deal with cases of smuggling of migrants, which we effectively carry out within the framework of our border governance strategy deployed at all border frontiers.
“I want to assure you that the Service is going to investigate the cases referenced to enable us get to the bottom of the allegations.”
Beating up traffickers amounts to jungle justice —NAPTIP
Responding to our inquiry on what the agency is doing regarding the challenge of human trafficking along the Lagos-Seme border corridor, Press Officer of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Vincent Adekoye said: “I wish to point out that in line with its mandates, the Agency has established coordinated preventive, regulatory and investigatory machinery geared towards the eradication of trafficking in persons, not only within the areas mentioned, but across the country.
“The Agency has intensified collaboration with state and non-state actors, namely sister law enforcement Agencies, collaborating agencies of government, members of civil society organisations, community leaders and organised bodies within the Badagary and Seme border areas, as well as members of the border communities.
“Lagos State is one of the states with task forces on human trafficking, which is chaired by the Hon Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Lagos State, with the Zonal Commander of NAPTIP as Co-Chair.
“Impressively, this Task Force has been working tirelessly to address the situation. They have carried out a series of advocacy efforts to critical stakeholders along the said corridor.
“They have staged several enlightenment activities and created the required awareness to reduce the vulnerability of the people and to get the full support of all stakeholders.
“Bearing in mind the volume of traffic on that road and as one of the entry points to Nigeria, Operatives of NAPTIP have continued to carry out round-the-clock surveillance, and this has led to several interceptions of victims and the arrest of suspects.”
Adekoye said NAPTIP was not aware that some security operatives were aiding and compounding the menace of human trafficking. His words: “Human trafficking is a national concern, and the Agency believes that all organs of government, particularly the security agencies, are doing their best.
“They are working closely with NAPTIP to tackle the menace in the area.”
While commending non-state actors who said they have been rescuing victims, Adekoye said beating up traffickers amounts to jungle justice, which is against the Constitution of Nigeria. “While the Agency commends them for rescuing victims of human trafficking, suspects should be handed over to NAPTIP for prosecution.
“When they are prosecuted, it serves as a deterrent to others and assuages the pain of the victims. When they are prosecuted, the victim might get restitution.”
Responding to a question on how
NAPTIP can adequately deal with the menace since it does not have a post along the Badary/ border area, he said: “The agency has excellent working relationship with other sister law enforcement agencies along the axis.
“Since she assumed duty, the Director General of NAPTIP, Binta Adamu Bello, OON, has continued to work assiduously to strengthen relationships with partners, stakeholders and other actors in the space.
“This is done through advocacy, courtesy visits, strategic engagement and other informal interfaces.
“This strategy has resulted in joint operations along the area, interception of victims, disruption of activities of human traffickers, arrest of suspects as well as massive enlightenment that have reduced the vulnerability of the people along the axis.”
Nigeria renowned as country of citizenship for significant proportion of trafficking victims- IOM
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM), in its report titled ‘Profile of Nigerian Victims Of Human Trafficking Since 2017’, said Nigeria is renowned as the country of citizenship for a significant proportion of trafficking victims identified in Europe and other parts of the world.
From the data gathered for the report, the IOM said Nigeria serves as both a country of citizenship for victims of trafficking exploited abroad and a country of exploitation for Nigerian citizens trafficked internally within Nigeria, as well as individuals of other nationalities trafficked and exploited across international borders.
According to the report, “between 2017 and Q1 2024, IOM facilitated the voluntary return of 4,877 Victims of Trafficking (VOTs) holding Nigerian citizenship, among whom 616 (13%) were male and 4261 (87%). Women and girls constituted nearly 88% of these returnees across various age brackets. Following their return, IOM, in collaboration with key governmental entities, civil society organizations, and non-governmental actors, facilitated their reception and support. Upon arrival, immediate assistance, including medical care for individuals with varying degrees of health conditions, and psychosocial counseling aimed at fostering emotional, social, and cognitive capacities necessary for reintegration into the community, were provided. Additionally, vulnerability screening was done during the period.
“The analysis of age distributions, according to the report, consistently reveals a prevalence of youth victims across all age groups of which most are females.
“Notably, a substantial majority of the identified victims fall within the demographic range of 18 to 39 years, encompassing nearly 90% of the total victims.
“Specifically, the data emphasises the vulnerability of individuals aged between 18 and 25 to recruitment by traffickers, highlighting their increased susceptibility.
“Additionally, it’s worth noting that among the identified victims, 302 are minors, emphasising the concerning exploitation of individuals under the age of adult reasoning.”
Operatives at the Assistant Inspector-General (AIG) Zone 2, Onikan, Lagos have arrested suspected human traffickers and cultist, a statement by the zonal spokesperson, Chief Superintendent of Police Ayuba Umma said yesterday.
Umma said the zonal command also recovered firearms, ammunition and voter’s cards from some criminals.
According to the statement, the suspects were arrested at Ayobo, Ipaja in Lagos, while the alleged cultists were nabbed at Ijebu-Ife in Ogun State.
Umma said the human trafficking syndicate allegedly led by one Stella Edem was smashed on March 22 by the Zonal Intelligence Response Squad (ZIRS) led by Superintendent of Police Francis Kpoughul, who stormed their base at Command Meran, Lagos and arrested Edem along with one Susan Michael.
Umma said Edem confessed to the crime, adding that she was introduced to the business by one Anabel based in Mauritania, and Rosemary Isaiah Otobong, who has been prosecuted for the same offense and is serving jail term in the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCOS) facility.
“She added that Anabel contracted her to recruit young girls below 22 years to be used as sex workers in Mauritania and that she was being paid N50,000 as commission on each young girl sent to Mauritania.
“She confessed that among other girls she recruited is her 19-year-old daughter, citing that she has so far received over N500,000 from Anabel,” said Umma.
Continuing, the zonal spokesperson said Michael revealed she was contracted by Edem to recruit young girls to serve as domestic staff in Mauritania but upon questioning and further inquiries she discovered the girls were to be used as sex workers.
“She said she withdrew from the said business, adding that the only girl she sent to Stella Edem was rejected due to age and body size and it was at that point she felt something wasn’t right,” said Umma.
On the suspected cultist, Umma said he was arrested during a raid of a hideout for Eiye cult members in Ijebu-Ife, Ogun State, who had terrorised the community.
She said the zonal command received intelligence and the Dragon Squad II (ZDS-II) led by Deputy Superintendent of Police Akeem Adeyemi was deployed for a discrete operation.
The police team, Umma said, raided the hideout of the cult group on March 19, while they were allegedly planning an attack and one Orekoya Abayomi, 54, was arrested while others escaped through a nearby bush.
“He led the team to his residence where the following items were recovered: One local single barrel pistol; six live cartridges; 21 Voter’s Cards with different names (suspected to be fake), and one Emerald Pump Action Gun with Breach No. 1335.
“Investigation is on-going and suspects will be charged to court upon completion of investigation,” she added.
Amilu Usman, the father of two of the 21 boys of Niger State origin rescued from a syndicate of human traffickers has admitted giving permission to the traffickers to take his two children to Niger Republic.
Jamilu made the disclosure when he arrived to take his children who were rescued and sent back to Minna, citing poor education opportunities for his sons in their community in the Magama Local Government area of Niger State.
He said the traffickers had told them (parents) that they would find good Islamic schools for the children, adding that each parent was charged N35,000 as a monthly payment for the children’s upkeep and welfare in Niger Republic and Mali.
Jamilu, headteacher of a primary school in Magama, said he was comfortable letting his two children, Jamilu Usman and Maruf Jamilu, go because one of the people involved in taking the children was an acquaintance.
He said: “I have two children among them, Umar Jamilu and Maruf Jamilu. One is about 13 years the other is about nine years.
“Umar is in Primary 6 while Maruf is in Primary 5.
“I am aware of their movement and I was the one that gave them to one man called Malam Abubakar to carry my children to Niger Republic to get Islamic religion.
“I know Malam Abubakar because we are in the same area. I know his father, I know his mother, I know his house. One of my senior brothers is married to his junior sister. So, I know Malam.
“Malam studied in Sudan and Niger, and that is why we agreed with this Malam Abubakar to carry our children to Niger to get an education.
“We are the ones that take the responsibility, and we were told that we would be paying N35,000 per month on each person.
“I am a primary school teacher. It was a religious decision.”
Giving reasons why he allowed his sons to embark on such a dangerous journey, Usman said that there was no good school in the community, and the majority of the schools did not have teachers.
He said that most times, the children do not go to school because even if they do, there is no infrastructure, no teachers, and classes do not hold.
He said: “I removed them from school because in our school, there were some problems which resulted in them not going to school regularly. There are not enough teachers.
“I am a primary school teacher at Tungangari Primary School and there is a government school. I know the problem in our school.
“In my school, I am the headmaster, teacher and everything. I don’t want my children to go through that kind of school.”
Dismayed by the incident, Niger State Deputy Governor, Comrade Yakubu Garba, disclosed after receiving the rescued children that all the boys were from Magama Local Government Area, but they were rescued from Gedam in Yobe State on their way to Niger Republic and Mali.
Garba said that the syndicates who were transporting the boys escaped, but plans were on track to fish them out. He declared that government would not condone parents accepting to traffick their children abroad.
He said: “We are taken aback by the resurgence of trafficking in persons, which is being orchestrated by merchants of evil.
“Just yesterday, 21 indigenes of Niger State from Magama Local Government Area were rescued from a syndicate of human traffickers. These were all young boys with average age of 10.”
“Human trafficking contravenes section 34(1) of the 1999 constitution as amended, which provides that everyone is entitled to respect for the dignity of his person, and, accordingly, no person shall be subjected to dual
torture or inhuman treatment, or held in slavery or servitude, or required to perform forced or compulsory labour.
“This heinous crime is a classical example of man’s inhumanity to man. No person should be subjected to inhuman treatment irrespective of their social, cultural, economic, religious or educational status.”
The Deputy Governor declared that government in the state would tame human trafficking, adding that government would not condone instances where parents aid human trafficking under any guise as perpetrators and enablers of such crimes shall be dealt with accordingly.
“Niger State has been grappling with monstrous terrorism. We will not condone any tendency that is inimical to the peace, stability, security and well-being of our people.
“The giant stride of the Governor in taming the tide of terrorism shall not be withered by elements that are hell-bent on turning the hands of the clock.
“While poverty and search for greener pastures have been identified as the major baits in luring the victims by the perpetrators, the government of Farmer Umaru Mohammed Bago has been deliberate in addressing these factors through employment opportunities and poverty alleviation policies.
“The government shall be decisive in our approach and ensure the restoration of peace and human dignity.
“Our people are our greatest assets, and we shall treasure and protect them by all means necessary.
The momentary setbacks shall not deter us. The government is more than willing to deploy all necessary measures in bringing to a halt, or at worst the barest minimum, all forms of criminality.”
Sick, hungry, thirsty widows, children lie helpless in Agadez
Hordes of Nigerian and other Africans aiming to reach Europe en route North Africa are stranded in Agadez, a city in Niger Republic known as the gateway to the Sahara. The migrants are living in deplorable conditions with no means of getting food or water for themselves. INNOCENT DURU reports that many sub-Saharan Africans are also languishing in various North African deserts, especially Tunisia, following the EU border externalisation policy that financially empowers Arab nations to prevent irregular migration to Europe.
Ara, a mother of two from Borno State had her husband killed at the height of Boko Haram terrorists’ attack in the North Eastern region of Nigeria. Following the death of her husband, she and her daughters fled to Kano State for a new life.
While in Kano, she came across people who were always travelling to Libya to work and earn good money that enhanced their living standard. Tired of seeing her children deprived of basic necessities, Zara thought of also going to Libya to work and shake off the shackles of hardship in her family.
“Someone around me introduced me to the trip. I paid over N200,000 to the person to take me to Libya,” she said in a polished tone that brought her across as an educated person. In fact, she stood out among the stranded Nigerians our correspondent spoke with in the desert.
Zara subsequently confirmed that she has an Advanced Diploma in Accounting.
Asked how she raised money for the trip, she said: “I sold my property to raise the money. I did that in order to go and work, make money and take care of my children.”
Unfortunately for Zara, her plans did not work out. And to make matters worse, she has not been able to see or hear from her daughters for whom she embarked on the precarious journey in the last 10 months. This wrenches her heart and forces tears down her eyes all the time.
“I left my children with my sister. I don’t know whether my sister is still alive or not,” she said, crying uncontrollably.
After overcoming her emotions, Zara began to narrate the story of her failed and regretful trip. “I left Kano in February. We were heading to Libya and had reached a certain area when we were told that there were robbers ahead.
“The driver stayed at the spot for a long time and thereafter said he would not go further because the criminal gang would kill him and collect his vehicle.
“The driver also said the criminal gang would not only kill him but that they would also kill us (passengers) too. The driver consequently returned us to Agadez.”
In almost one year of staying in Agadez, Zara has been surviving on whatever people can offer when they have. She is faced with worse hardship than the one that made her to embark on the journey.
“The suffering here has been too much. It is a pity I am in this critical condition,” she said, crying again.
After calming her down, our correspondent prodded further, asking her to explain what she meant by being in a critical condition.
“We have nowhere to stay. We are camping in a forest as you can see. From this forest to where the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has a camp is a long distance. We journey there to beg for food.
“When you manage to get there, you will stay at the gate. When they eat and have leftovers, they would give us. If they don’t have leftovers to give us, we would go hungry until we see someone to give us something to eat.
“If nobody gives us anything, we would remain hungry for as long as we get help.
“The people inside the official camp have no problem. It is we who are outside the camp that are going through hell.
“The number of stranded migrants is huge and the camp cannot contain everybody.
“It is those who are fast and lucky to get registered that are in the camp. The rest of us are in the forest.”
Stranded migrants who are not in officially recognised tents live in horribly made tents that provide no shield against the excruciating weather conditions and attacks by snakes and scorpions in the desert. Life for the stranded people has become a game of chance as any of them could drop dead at any time.
Continuing, Zara said: “Getting food and water here is by luck. Our condition is horrible. We at times stay without food for days.
“We have people dying because of the deplorable condition we have found ourselves here in the desert.
“One woman from Ogun State suffered a mental health problem following the situation here.
“One organisation from Nigeria has taken her back home. It will be a great miracle if she comes out of that condition.”
Zara is homesick and anxious to go home to see her daughters. “We are just waiting for the International Organisation for Migration to return us to Nigeria. We are still waiting for them,” she said.
Prior to this time, irregular migration was not a common phenomenon in the northern part of Nigeria. It was an occurrence that was common in the southern part. But recently, following a growing campaign against the menace, human traffickers have begun to shift attention to the north where the awareness is abysmally low.
As revealed in this report, vulnerable widows and children are prime targets of the traffickers.
The traffickers saw through the vulnerable state of Binta, a native of Kano State and widow and fully exploited it. Like Zara, it was also Binta’s quest to improve the children’s living condition that made her give in to the traffickers’ game plan.
She said: “I was selling foodstuffs in Kano before I embarked on this journey. I left Kano six months ago. I have been in the desert since then.
“I have six children. I kept five of them with my brother in Kano. I embarked on the journey with one. My husband is late. I also have no father or mother to inform about the journey.
“It was the quest to take care of my children that brought me to the situation I am now.”
Dazed by her experience, Binta said: “Life here in Agadez is not good. My child and I always go out begging in the market area before we can eat, and it is not every day we get help.
“Sometimes we get food to eat. On other occasions, we would have nothing to eat. As I speak now, ulcer is dealing with me seriously and I am not feeling well. I didn’t eat anything throughout yesterday.”
Young victims narrate ordeal
Aside from adults, findings revealed that many young ladies are also stranded in the desert. One of them, who gave her name simply as Precious, said she hails from Adamawa, another Northeastern state in Nigeria.
“I left Adamawa in January to go to Libya,” Precious recounted, showing she had been in the desert before Zara and Binta arrived. If she does not get help soon, she will be celebrating one year of a sorrowful life filled with uncertainties in the desert next month.
Asked how she knew about the Libyan trip, she said: “One of my friends who had been going to Libya introduced me to this. She did not collect money from me but got my assurance to pay her back when I get to Libya and start working.
“I have been here for more than 11 months doing nothing. We have no means of getting food. We only go to IOM camp to beg for food. If they give us, we would have something to eat, and if they don’t, we will have nothing to eat.
“As I am talking to you now, we have not eaten since yesterday. This has been my experience for the past 11 months. We are daily ravaged by hunger and sicknesses.”
Following their plight in the desert, Promise said that many of their colleagues have died.
She said: “One woman from Kano who used to give us food each time she had lost her daughter recently.
“As you can see, we have many children here. They are also subjected to the harsh weather conditions we are facing here in the desert.
“Aside from cold, we also have snakes all over the place.
“One woman from Nigeria was recently bitten by a snake. Her condition became very serious that she could not get medical help here. She has since been assisted to return home.”
In spite of her disgusting ordeal in Agadez, Promise is bubbling with joy that she did not get to Libya.
“I am happy that I didn’t get to Libya,” she said.
“I later found that the work they promised us in Libya is not a good or dignifying work.
“They wanted us to become prostitutes and I cannot do such. It is better I go back and meet my mother in Nigeria.”
Before embarking on the journey, Promise said she was working as a sales girl in a beer parlour.
“The income wasn’t sufficient to cater for my mother, sibling and I. My father is late so the burden of raising the family is solely on my mother’s shoulders.
“It was the quest to support my mother that made me to take the decision to seek greener pastures.
“I am just a secondary school certificate holder. My mother is aware of my journey. She approved of it, thinking that I was going to be given a decent job in Libya.
“I have ulcer.”
Also sharing her experience, another stranded lady, who gave her name simply as Comfort, said: “I am from Adamawa State. I was not doing any job before I was introduced to the Libya trip.
“My sister’s friend brought me into it. She told me that I would refund all the money spent on me when I start working in Libya.”
Asked why she did not get to Libya, she said: “I could not get to Libya because the road was rough and tough. I later realised that we were meant to do prostitution in Libya.
“My sister’s friend who brought me into the journey has not called me. I have also not called my parents since then.
“We have no food or water here in the desert. We always go to beg Nigeriens for water to drink.”
Among the young people interviewed by our correspondent, Fatima, a 19-year-old, had a slightly different story.
She said she was led on the journey by her mother but she (mother) did not tell her what they were going to do in Libya.
She said: “My father is late. I was schooling before we embarked on the journey. I was in JSS 2.
“We are suffering here. We have no food, water and where to sleep.
To survive each day, the teenager said, “we beg people to get water and food. I have been doing nothing since we arrived here.
“There are snakes and scorpions all over the desert. I have not been bitten by any of them but a scorpion has bitten my sister.
“I want to go back to Nigeria to continue my education. I don’t want to go to Libya again.”
Agadez has over the years become a mass graveyard of sorts for African migrants seeking to get to Europe through the desert. The calamities started as far back as 2015 when the irregular migration surge to Europe started.
A respondent quoted by The Guardian in its 2015 report said “No one can know how many have died in this way. For every corpse discovered in the Sahara – more than 40 have been counted since January – there may be another five or even 50 that will never be found.”
Four months ago, no fewer than 44 migrants were found dead at Agadez in Niger about 1000km from Niamey.
It was revealed that the migrants died of thirst after their vehicle failed.
Temperatures in Agadez at the period hovered around 40 degrees Celsius but had hit almost 50 degrees (122 Fahrenheit) in the past.
Carcasses of sub-Sahara Africans litter North African deserts
In recent times, migrants from sub-Sahara Africa have been subjected to an unprecedented level of dehumanisation by North African countries executing the EU border externalisation policy.
The migrants, including pregnant women, nursing mothers and children, are deported to deserts and left without water and food to survive. A number of them consequently die. This is particularly worse in Tunisia which was recently described by Human Rights Watch as a no safe haven for black African migrants and refugees.
Human Rights Watch put the number of black migrants expelled or forcibly moved out of Tunisia to the country’s desert border with Libya and Algeria at 1,200 in July 2023.
Some like Alexander Uche Okole said they had walked for two days without food or water.
Okole, 41, from Nigeria, said he entered Tunisia via Debdeb in Algeria, and “spent some time in Tunis but then the Tunisian police got me. They arrested me in the street and then took me down to the Sahara Desert.”
While Okolie survived, humanitarian groups said 17 of the migrants died over a period of three weeks.
In November 2023, a report by Aljazeera said at least 27 people from sub-Saharan Africa died within days after being expelled from Tunisia towards the Libya border and abandoned in the desert in relentless heat.
Few months ago, a Nigerian refugee reportedly lost his wife and child to hunger and thirst in a desert between Libya and Tunisia.
North Africans get mouth-watering deals to stop irregular migration
Since 2015, when migration to Europe increased dramatically due to the war in Syria and other factors, a report by Info Migrants said the EU has been signing accords with other countries, especially African states, to block the arrival of migrants before they even reach the borders of the EU and facilitate the deportation from Europe of people without papers
Some North African countries have in recent years received funds running into millions of Euros to stop irregular migration as part of its Border externalization policy.
Border externalization is the outsourcing of the EU’s responsibility for preventing irregular migration to third countries.
Tunisia and the EU in July 2023 struck a deal to fight irregular migration in return for financial support during a sharp increase in boats leaving the North African nation for Europe.
Under the agreement signed by commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, Tunisia was to get 105 million euros ($112m) to curb irregular migration, 150 million euros ($160m) in budgetary support and 900 million euros ($959m) in long-term aid.
Tunisia has since increased interceptions of migrants at sea, and since last August, has automatically expelled sub-Saharan migrants to the Libyan or Algerian border where many of them have died of thirst and hunger.
According to Informigrants, the European Union also signed a new agreement with Egypt last March. Out of a total of 7.4-billion-euro funding package, 200 million euros was intended for managing migration. The deal also provided for the delivery of at least three search and rescue vessels to the Egyptian coast guard, along with thermal cameras.
The objective was to stem immigration from Egypt, which represented 20 per cent of migrants arriving in Italy in 2022.
Libya, the hot bed of irregular migration is not left out
A report by HRW said the European Union has allocated €57.2 million for “Integrated Border and Migration Management in Libya” since 2017, and announced plans in November 2022 to further increase support to the Arab country.
Mauritania also got a share of the juicy funding.
The country got a package of 200 million euros for Mauritania, the country from which the majority of boats leave for the Spanish islands. For more than 20 years, Nouakchott has received substantial sums from Spain and the European Union for migration management.
For the period 2022-2027, the EU allocation amounted to 12.5 million euros. Yet the recent massive arrivals have pushed the EU to increase funding. In exchange, Nouakchott agreed to take in migrants headed for the Canaries and block departures of the boats.
How Alarme Phone Sahara (APS) assists stranded migrants in Agadez – Dr Chehou
Alarme Phone Sahara (APS), a non-governmental organisation based in Niger Republic, has in no small measure been assisting stranded migrants in Agadez.
In a chat with our correspondent, the Coordinator, Dr Azizou Chehou said: “In the course of our work as Alarme Phone Sahara, we have what we call collective kitchen.
“Collective Kitchen is an activity that gathers stranded people to come tour headquarters here in Agadez to eat, play and share experiences among themselves.
“We also have a centre which is managed by a psychologist and other women who take care of their situation. They really achieve good results but it is not enough as you must have heard from the people that you have interviewed.
“The situation is very tough here at the moment here in Niger, particularly in Agadez. We are trying to find a sustainable solution for the people.
“More than 4,000 people have had the opportunity to call their families through our help. We offer them phones to call their parents, husbands, relatives, etc.
“We are doing what we can do but we don’t have enough capacity to respond to all the needs of the people on the move.”
Continuing, Dr Chehou said: “When the people arrive in Niger, they are really in a horrible situation.
“With the help of our partners, we have been implementing some projects. From January till date, there are more than 25,000 people who have been expelled from Algeria to Niger and assisted by our team on the ground.
“On the side of Libya, there are still people coming back. People are not really pushed back by the authorities in Libya but they are trying to return because of the tough situations in Libya.”
When migrants leave Libya, Dr Chehou said, they are stranded in the desert and would like to return to their countries.
The returnees, according to him, often comprise Nigerians, Sudanese, Chadians, Somalis and some Nigeriens.
“IOM is trying to support some of them by giving them shelter in their centres but the centres are not enough to support all these people.
“So, at this particular moment when it is very cold in the desert, hard wind is blowing there, imagine minors sleeping on the ground without mattresses or mats.
“Some of them are facing illnesses like flu, malaria, diarrhoea and other diseases. This is why we call on all the people who could help to assist these people to do this.
NIS, AU decline comment, IOM requests for time to react
Efforts to speak with the Nigeria Immigration Service on the predicaments of the citizens in Agadez were unsuccessful.
Calls to the spokesman , Kenneth Udoh were neither answered nor responded to. He also failed to respond to our text message.
Part of the core functions of the NIS is to control entry into and departure from Nigeria. But in spite of the NIS presence at the border between Nigeria and Niger, there are concerns that migrants have continued to move out of the borders in droves to places where their lives are put in serious danger.
Our efforts to know what the African Union is doing about the dehumanization of black Africans in Arab nations were also unsuccessful.
A message sent via the AU’s inquiry channel on its website was yet to be responded to as at the time of filing this report.
When our correspondent contacted IOM Nigeria, to find out what it’s doing to help the stranded Nigerians return home, the communications officer, Francois Xavier Ada replied: Hi Innocent, thanks for reaching out. Allow me to speak with our teams and revert. Thank you.”
Türkiye Interior Minister, Ali Yerlikaya announced on Monday that authorities have detained 1,644 irregular migrants and 51 human trafficking organisers in nationwide operations.
Yerlikaya said on his social media platform X, that among the detained organisers, 11 were foreign nationals, adding that deportation procedures for the detained migrants have already been initiated.
The minister did not specify the time frame of the operations but gave details of the operations, dubbed “Kalkan-30,” which targeted abandoned buildings, public venues, truck depots, terminals, ports, and public transit hubs.
Yerlikaya added that a total of 17 vehicles, three boats, eight unlicensed firearms, and various quantities of illegal narcotics were seized during the operations.
Earlier, Yerlikaya reported that Turkish security forces had conducted nearly 6,339 operations against human trafficking organisations throughout the year, resulting in the arrests of 3,924 smugglers.
Türkiye faces significant challenges in managing illegal migration due to its strategic geographic position between Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
The country serves as a critical transit route for migrants attempting to enter European nations.
As a destination and transit point for refugees from conflict-stricken regions, particularly Syria and Afghanistan, Türkiye has intensified border security measures in recent years.
The government has also strengthened the legal framework and enhanced international collaboration to combat the growing activities of human smuggling networks. (www.nannews.ng)
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Kogi State Command, has arrested three suspected human traffickers.
The suspects, identified as Evelyn Jerry, 27, Stephen Rebecca, 30, and Richard Patrick, 38, were intercepted by soldiers along Lokoja-Abuja Road with children between the ages of three and 13 crammed into an eight-seater bus marked JJN964XB, NAPTIP said in a statement yesterday.
Spokesperson Nneka Aniagoh said the suspects and victims were first handed over to the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) Lokoja, which later handed them over to NAPTIP.
She said the victims were taken from Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau State and moved to Ekpoma in Edo State as domestic helps.
Aniagoh said the suspects claimed the victims’ parents gave consent for them to be given out as domestic helps, adding that the suspects and victims were from the same town.
“They claimed that the parents of the 14 children gave consent to take them and send them to households for domestic labour.
“The Director-General of NAPTIP, Dame Julie Okah-Donli, expressed sincere appreciation to the officers of the Nigerian Army and the NIS for their contributory efforts in the interception, rescue and hand-over of the victims and suspects,” said Aniagoh.
Quoting the DG, she said the national referral mechanism being put in place by NAPTIP and relevant agencies aimed to achieve synergy in stopping human trafficking.
“Dame Okah-Donli takes this opportunity to warn the public that the Trafficking In Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015, prohibits the employment of children below the age of 12 as domestic workers, and warns that those found culpable will be severely dealt with.
“The NAPTIP DG says such acts fuel the incidence of child exploitative labour and the agency will not tolerate such abuse on our children. The suspects will definitely be arraigned upon completion of preliminary investigations,” Aniagoh said.
Facebook is failing to prevent human traffickers from luring in victims through the social network, law enforcement officials in Britain said on Friday.
According to Reuters/NAN reports, criminal gangs are openly advertising “travel agent” style services into Europe, which conceal the risk of death or entrapment, said Chris Hogben, who leads Britain’s Organised Immigration Crime Taskforce.
“More often than not, these adverts are quite reassuring, they create an illusion this is very much normal travel, it’s safe, it’s easy,” he told the media.
“Tragically, when you look at quite a few of these adverts, they might be advertising big luxury yachts or ships.
“When the migrants turn up to get transported they find they are being packed onto a rib or a small boat without safety jackets,” Hogben said.
Facebook, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, said it worked closely with law enforcement agencies to identify and remove pages linked to smuggling and trafficking.
The number of illegal migrants into Europe has dropped sharply from its peak of more than a million in 2015, but tens of thousands still attempt the journey each year.
Just under 75,000 people have arrived so far in 2018, with the majority travelling on over-packed boats across the Mediterranean, which has left 1,524 dead or missing, said the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
However, the risks are far from apparent in pages set up by smuggling gangs on social media, which often offer descriptions of routes and prices.
One even included a discount for children, said Hogben at Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA), which works to counter serious and organised crime.
The NCA has identified more than 800 pages linked to smuggling gangs since late 2016 on Facebook and asked the social media giant to remove them.
Hogben said Facebook was responsive to such requests but should be investing more to tackle the problem, including developing algorithms to flag up suspicious pages.
“If we can find them easily, then obviously social media companies including Facebook, can find them just as easily.
“There’s a lot more than social media companies could do to make it better.”
The Nigeria Immi-gration Service (NIS) Katsina State Command has arrested no fewer than four persons suspected to be human traffickers and rescued 38 victims of human trafficking in the state.
The command also paraded nine rescued victims and vowed to hand them over to its headquarters in Abuja for further investigation.
Addressing journalists in Katsina, the state Comptroller of Immigration, Ajisafe Olusola, said the suspects hailed from different parts of Nigeria between the ages of 21 and 43.
He said: “The three suspected victims are from Ogun State, one from Abia, Oyo, Imo, Edo, Osun and one from Enugu State respectively.
“The victims were individually recruited by different agents from Lagos and Port Harcourt.
“They started their journey from Lagos with the intention of travelling to Niger Republic to obtain biometric capture for United States of American visa at American Embassy in Niamey, Niger Republic, under the facilitation of one agent named Mr. Balogun Taiwo who is residing in Niamey, Niger Republic.”
While reiterating the command’s readiness to avert human trafficking and child labour in the state, Olusola urged the public to provide NIS with vital information about human trafficking and child labour in the state.
The Katsina Command of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has arrested four suspected human traffickers and rescued 38 victims.
The command also paraded nine suspected victims and pledged to hand them over to its headquarters in Abuja for further investigation.
Addressing reporters in Katsina, the State Comptroller of Immigration Ajisafe Joshua Olusola said the suspects are between 21 and 43 years.
The NIS chief added that most of them hailed from different states.
He said: “The three suspected victims are from Ogun State, one each from Abia, Oyo, Imo, Edo, Osun and Enugu states. The victims were individually recruited by different agents from Lagos and Port Harcourt.
“They started their journey from Lagos with the intention of travelling to Niger Republic to obtain biometric capture for United States of American visa at the American Embassy in Niamey, the Niger Republic capital, under one agent named Balogun Taiwo, who is residing in Niamey.”
Reiterating the command’s readiness to stop human trafficking and child labour in the state, Olusola urged the public to provide NIS with vital information about human trafficking and child labour in the state.
He said such information, if provided, will go a long way in assisting the NIS in fighting and preventing child trafficking and other related cases across the country.
