In the last couple of weeks, I have had cause to be attracted to some of the experiences shared by victims of human trafficking. Going through such harrowing encounters that nearly led to the death of the victims, the impression one got is that they will serve as a sufficient deterrent to those who may still be nursing the feeling of embarking on such hazardous trips.
One of such chilling accounts that should ordinarily frighten even the most uncaring was captured by Citizen Osita Osemene who was deceived into fleeing this country due to frustration and the promise of all the goodies of life that abound in the foreign lands of Europe. In a recent interview in a national daily, Osemene who had been led by his deadly encounter to establish a Non Governmental Organization to fight human trafficking gave a detailed account of the numerous risks associated with such trips.
He spoke on the harsh economic realities in the country after graduating from the university, the lure of better prospects outside the shores of this country as presented by his guides as some of the issues that made him to embark on such a hazardous trip. But all the prospects painted for him were to become a mirage shortly after. The journey, which was supposed to be by air turned out its direct opposite. He was later ferried to Kano from where a very tortuous journey by road to Niger and Libya was to commence.
Osemene gave a detailed but scary account of the numerous life-threatening encounters he had on the way; how many of his colleagues were duped, died on the way due to hunger, starvation and dehydration and how they had to drink their own urine to stay alive. It was a tale of man’s inhumanity to man; a verity of the hobbesian state of nature where life had at once become nasty, short and brutish.
His story also gave an insight into the kind of job women who were part of the trip were into. At a point in the tortuous journey to Libya, the surviving women were sold into prostitution slavery at the price of $3,000 and the y would have to pay their buyers $9,000 to regain their freedom. Of course, the only way to this is through prostitution with all the associated health risks.
It was an experience that would scare even the most daring. At the end, he took consolation on the fact that he was one of the lucky ones not eaten up by the beasts of the desert as he managed to return home without reaching his promised Eldorado. That was the story of a Nigerian graduate who was lured to flee the country for supposedly greener pastures in Europe.
With such tales which have become regular features of the print and electronic media, the expectation is that the penchant with which hapless Nigerians are lured into foreign lands by sundry syndicates would have been on the decrease. This is more so given the plethora of sensitization programmes regularly mounted by various agencies of the government to drum home the risks associated with such trips and discourage them. There have also been mounting efforts to make it difficult for the trade to thrive through surveillance leading to the arrest and prosecution of offenders.
But even with these renewed efforts at stemming the phenomenon, it would appear much progress is yet to be made. Not only are there recurring attempts by sundry syndicates to smuggle young men and women out of this country in search of non-existing greener pastures, it would appear that efforts to discourage Nigerians from such dangerous trips are yet to be fully internalized.
If anything, the confessions of one of the four women, Cecelia Bankole, saved last week from being trafficked to Libya, illustrates how little such messages have permeated the grassroots. It was a shocking tale of how Cecelia, a 26-year old hairdresser had to dump her two children on her husband for the botched trip despite her (husband’s) disapproval of it.
Cecelia’s mother’s account of the circumstances leading to her approval of the trip did not help matters. According to her, she had to accompany the four to the point they were arrested because she wanted to know one Ganiat Ajilola who was taking them on the trip. Hear her “I was informed that one big madam whom Ganiat Ajilola was working for in Libya needs hair dressers to help her manage her shop. Upon hearing that people will be going abroad, I volunteered my daughter because she is a hairdresser. I begged her husband but he declined to allow her go on the trip. But I have prayed about it and God said she should go. That is why I am encouraging her”, the prophetess stated.
This singular case in more ways than one, underscores the difficulties in the current fight against human trafficking. It does not only betray the high level of ignorance that pervade the entire landscape in respect of the dangers associated with such trips, but exposes the vulnerability of the average family to the deceptive but enticing stories of those in the human trafficking ring. Above all, it illustrates most poignantly, the desperation of our people for money at the slightest offer of some opportunity without giving deep thought to what such tales offer.
Here was a married woman with two kids. All of a sudden, someone came around to float a story that one big madam in Libya needed hairdressers to manage her shop. Her mother who should be more circumspect in handling such stories immediately fell for it to the extent she had to persuade her son in-law to allow her go on the trip. Apparently attracted by the promise that her daughter, an apprentice hairdresser would be managing a shop in far away Libya, the woman threw all decorum to the dogs and was prepared to stake the fate of her two grandchildren for the trip to be.
This woman who claimed to be a prophetess said she prayed over the matter and God revealed to her that her daughter should embark on the journey. That could as well be. Now the reality of the journey has dawned on her, it might be interesting to know her feelings on the encounter she claimed to have had with God regarding the trip. If God really spoke to her, she would have been told that the journey which she persuaded her daughter to embark on and for which she had to dump her grandchildren was a colossal disaster waiting to happen.
With the experience shared by Osemene, the fate that awaited Cecelia and her colleagues was quite predictable. They were going to be sold into prostitution slavery if they were lucky to survive the vicissitudes of the desert journey. They should thank their God and the police from saving them from the claws of death. And it should serve as a lesson to all.
The encounter of the four women is a tip of the iceberg on the human trafficking index in this country. As I write, people elsewhere are perfecting plans to flee the country even when they had been told of the risks associated with such illegal trips. Many would even prefer to be out there under any condition than remain in this country. So it not just a matter of ignorance on the dangers associated with such journeys. The desperation can be located in greed and the debilitating living conditions of a majority of our citizens due largely to poverty and a very high level of unemployment.
In as much as sensitization programmes are relevant to discourage the likes of Bankole, not much will be achieved if the rising poverty in the land due to unemployment is not checked by the government. We have been told of the quantum of jobs the government intends to create. It must now go beyond promises and put the jobs on the table such that the teeming army of the unemployed will feel the impact.
Above all, the time has come for our leaders to deploy the enormous resources of this country to develop it such that citizens will have less attraction in fleeing at the slightest offer of elusive job opportunities in foreign lands. That is the issue that has been elevated to the public domain by the persisting incidence of human trafficking on these shores.
NATION
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