The Roles of Governmental Organizations in Sex Trafficking in Nigeria: a Case Study of Ojo Local Government, Lagos State
CHAPTER ONE
Research Objectives
The main objective of this study is to examine the roles of governmental organizations in sex trafficking in Nigeria using Ojo Local Government Area in Lagos State as a case study. The specific objectives are to:
- Examine the nature and dynamics of sex trafficking in Ojo Local Government
- Explore Ojo Local Government’s initiatives to curb sex trafficking in the area
- Assessment Ojo Local Government’s initiatives against sex trafficking
- Identify the challenges faced by governmental organization in curbing sex trafficking in Ojo Local Government
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Introduction
This chapter reviews the extant literature that are relevant on the matter of the study, it reviews the concept of sex trafficking, the causes and the roles of the government in curbing the matter. This aspect of the study captures the conceptualizations, analyses, and scholarly perceptions on Human trafficking and sex trafficking. Furthermore, it also features the types of human trafficking among which we have sex trafficking, girl child abuse, and trafficking in Nigeria.
Human Trafficking
Human trafficking has become a money-making venture which has no exactitude of the number of traffickers and patronages across the globe. In 2000, Article 3 of the Palermo Protocol of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) classified sex trafficking as human trafficking and defined human trafficking as;
“the enlistment, conveyance, allocate, sheltering or receipt of persons, through the means of force, threats or any forms of coercion, kidnapping, deception, of the abuse of power or a position of vulnerability or the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for exploitation”. (UNODC 2000:2).
This definition has been criticized by scholars and researchers for its narrowness of description. It is designed to focus on the various stages of human trafficking before exploitation and to underestimate the actual exploitation. Likewise, the consent of the victims is not considered relevant, so that situations of consensual prostitution are excluded (Tavella, 2007). According to Van Der Anker and Doomernik (2006), they argued that Palermo’s definition of trafficking in human beings is complex and puzzling as it only relates to the various activities by which traffickers achieve their goal and certain terms such as use of force, abuse of power and exploitation. O’Connell Davidson and Anderson (2006) also supported this argument, stating that the definition used “generic” terms to define the trafficking process, rather than a single or unitary act to specify the outcome, and as a result, nations and states have struggled to implement them because of their different options and outcomes.
In furtherance, Scarpa (2008) argued that “sexual exploitation and prostitution with their form have been completely left out. To him, this was intentional so that countries could use their internal legal frameworks to address prostitution issues within their legal framework because while some state laws do not regard prostitution as a crime, others consider it a crime.
It also encourages policy experts, national government, multilateral, and neoliberal business agencies to participate in responses to sex trafficking rather than paying attention to the world’s workers and poor (Kempadoo, 2005).
Kara (2009), in her book Sex Trafficking, Inside the Modern Slavery Business, first recognizes that the Palermo Protocol created an appropriate and generally accepted definition of human trafficking. She notes that the reason the protocol’s definition is confusing is that it focuses on the process of trafficking in human beings, such as: “Recruitment, transfer, and referral for exploitation,” which is the moving phase of the trafficking process rather than trafficking laws and programs that focus on the process rather than on the exploitation of human trafficking for other victims of exploitation go unnoticed. Also, she stressed that human trafficking should not focus on the process, but also the ends of the exploitation.
According to Ronald (2019), it seems prudent to treat human trafficking as acts of coercion or deception occurring at the recruitment or transit stage, and slavery as forced labor and comprehensive control of a person inside and outside of the work setting. The problem of human trafficking fronts the major challenges to the fundamental human rights which have over the years rendered Nigeria and her constitution paralytic.
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
Introduction
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This chapter focus on the methodology adopted for the study, it presents the research design, sampling techniques, method of data collection and data analysis.
Research Design
This research is a qualitative research and it adopt both historical and documentary design. The researcher adopted historical and documentary research to gain in depth understanding into the causes, effects and the challenges of the government in sex trafficking in Ojo Local Government.
Sampling Techniques
The researcher uses purposive and selective sampling method in conducting this research, accessible documents were used to gather information as regards Sex Trafficking. Purposive and selective sampling were employed because document from organizations were selected based on the effectiveness of the organizations in handling the cases of sex trafficking, some of which includes NAPTIP, NPF.
CHAPTER FOUR
NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT’S INTERVENTION IN SEX TRAFFICKING
Worried by the menace of sex trafficking and its concomitant negative image on the country, the then President Olusegun Obasanjo administration adopted a three-prong attack against the monstrous trade. At the level of the Presidency, was the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and other Related Matters (NAPTIP). Secondly, there were the federal government paramilitary agencies such as the Nigeria Immigration Service, (NIS); the Nigeria Police (NPF) and the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS). The third prong was at the level of government parastatals like the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), whose primary assignments are only indirectly related to sex trafficking (Lipede, 2007). We shall only concern ourselves with the activities NAPTIP in this study.
To give legal teeth to the attack on sex trafficking in Nigeria, the Federal Government sent a bill to the National Assembly seeking to outlaw sex trafficking. The bill, which was passed in August 2003, established the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, which formally criminalized sex trafficking. According to its mission statement, NAPTIP is committed to the prevention of all forms of human degradation and exploitation through the coordinated use of Nigeria’s crime prevention and law enforcement resources (Daily Independent Advertorial, 2005).
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Conclusion
There is no gainsaying that sex trafficking occur in different dimensions far more than it is been reported in Nigeria. Even though it is reported that generally sex trafficking is on the decline globally, but the practice is assuming quite novel and different forms in Nigeria because there is unwarranted growing poverty trends. As a result, present attempt to confront this dual headed wicked practice is more or less like a scratch, or something just evolving. There is therefore the urgent need to give NAPTIP and such corresponding agencies the needed bite so as to wage serious war on the ever-emerging multifarious implications of sex trafficking, which has continually consti- tute a cog in the wheel of Nigeria’s developmental attempt. If the needful drastic steps are not taken to immediately eliminate sex trafficking like other societal ills, the privilege few whose children are not victims may suffer trepidations consistently as the case at the moment in Nigeria of kidnapping, armed robbery, terrorism, corruption, official ineptitude among very many others.
This study examined the role of government organizations in sex trafficking in Lagos state, with a view to identifying the push and pull factors responsible for the persistence of this modern sex slavery. The study posed a number of questions, among them; what are the causes of sex trafficking, what are the mechanisms put in place to stem the tide of the trafficking of women, how effective are these mechanisms and why has the trafficking of women persisted despite the existence of laws criminalizing the illicit business? One of the major findings of the study is that poverty is largely responsible for the migration of Nigerian girls and women for prostitution abroad. From the study it was discovered that there is little prospect of the menace of the trafficking of women being eliminated from Nigeria in the nearest future unless the specters of poverty, unemployment and all the other push and pull factors are adequately addressed.
From the study it was discovered that contrary to the picture of paradise painted about Europe and America by the traffickers, the trafficking of women victims were exposed to and indeed, partook of such degrading works as house maids, nannies, hair platters and eventually engaged in prostitution while abroad. Another finding from the study attributes the persistence of the trafficking of women in Nigeria to the country’s porous borders, activities of traffickers and some corrupt embassy officials who issue visas to traffickers and their prey. Also revealed by the study is the fact that the absence of specific legislation which criminalized the trafficking of women in Nigeria prior to 2003 has direct a direct bearing on the prevalence of cases of the trafficking of women in the country. Arising from the above, the following
Recommendations
- From available literature evidence, poverty, grinding unemployment and widening inequalities are the major push factors in the incidence of cases of the trafficking of women in Nigeria. Concerted efforts must be made to address the root causes of the trafficking of women, which among others are poverty and unemployment. Girls and women are more vulnerable to the false promises of traffickers when they are poor and see very little prospects of moving out of their state of deprivation.
- Since women are more vulnerable to trafficking, a social security policy should be put in place to enhance their access to education by providing them with scholarships. This has the added advantage of making the millennium development goals of ensuring rights for girls and child education acts more reachable. The policy should also aim at efforts to improve the low status of women, particularly at dispelling the economic disadvantages they face.
- There is an urgent need to develop facilities and social services for the reception, protection and reintegration of trafficked persons to prevent as much as possible the re-trafficking of once trafficked people.
- It is also important to develop awareness raising and educational courses about HIV and AIDS and sex trafficking to better inform the public about the mutually reinforcing effects of these two phenomena.
- The study found out that the local and international legal framework that deal with sex trafficking was sufficient to combat sex trafficking effectively. It was however notedthat the implementation of the key legal instruments is wanting. It was also found out thatmost of the respondents were not fully conversant on the pieces of legislation on sex trafficking. There is therefore an urgent need to carry out sensitization of all immigration officers and other stakeholders. The Refugees Act and the Nigeria Citizenship and Immigration Act were seen as having some conflicting provisions which smugglers take advantage of. The two pieces of legislation therefore need to be harmonized. For effective combating of sex trafficking, cooperation between the source, transit and source countries is mandatory. This was seen to be low or totally missing.
- Though the Department of Immigration has greatly improved its capacity, the studyfound out that there are still areas of improvement. The staff levels were found to be verylow in many stations thus rendering them less effective. There is therefore an urgent need for optimum staffing of the various stations. Besides this, the government needs to increase the number of border controls in the Lagos- Birnin and Nigeria –Cameroon borders so as to reduce porosity. The working tools are very basic and do not match the sophistication of smugglers. There is need for supply of adequate and modern equipment that are able to detect fraudulent documents and imposters. Suitable and adequate number of vehicles needs to be supplied to enable efficient and effective patrols along the likely smuggling routes. Patrols and surveillance should not just be at the ports of entry and smuggling routes, it should extend to major urban centres on regular basis so that illegal immigrants are weeded out;
- The frequency and variety of training for immigration officers should be increased to capture all the diverse issues that call for their These include relevant legislations, training in the use of various equipment and information on current trends of illegal migration and specifically sex trafficking. There should an exhaustive training needs assessment done regularly to ensure all courses are distributed equitably.
- There is need to strengthen and focus on the anti-corruption measures in all stations since corruption facilitates sex trafficking to a great This can be achieved by sensitization through training and encouraging integrity among officers. A good stating point is on sensitizations on the Public Officer Ethics Act, continuous supervision and removing all opportunities for corruption through streamlining and making procedures hard to manipulate.
- The Coordinated Border Management strategy that brings together key stakeholders in the border management as exemplified by the lead agency concept needs to be reviewed as it has several flaws. The structures need to be developed fully with clear reporting structures from bottom to the top under one independent command.
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