Harrowing tales of survivors trapped in the web of trafficking

Through the haunting narratives of victims ensnared in the merciless web of child trafficking, BABATUNDE TITILOLA writes about the heartbreaking reality of how innocent lives are lured into a world of sexual exploitation and suffering under the guise of promising opportunities abroad

It took three days before 28-year-old Joy finally agreed to share her trafficking story with this reporter. She had reservations about the interview’s intentions, having faced exploitation from similar requests in the past. However, after seeking clarification on the potential impact of her narrative, she eventually decided to open up.

Joy’s life has been fraught with challenges, especially since her trafficking experience from her hometown in Benin, Edo State, to Libya a few years ago.

Raised by a single mother after her parents’ divorce at the age of eight, Joy had been making do with life’s meagre offerings. However, her world was shattered when her mother passed away, leaving her to navigate life’s obstacles alone at the age of 21.

After her mother’s death, Joy was unable to pursue further education due to financial constraints. She would rather find a means to feed her mouth first before feeding her intellect.

“It was frustrating because there was no one else to turn to. Even a place to stay was a problem. My friend asked me if I would be willing to leave the country if there was a job opportunity. Because of the frustration, I said I was interested,” she said.

Her encounter with her traffickers was in 2017 when she was referred to a ‘Connection Man’ who promised to connect her with a madam in France to get her a job.

Players in Nigeria’s underground trafficking business

In the world of trafficking, various individuals play crucial roles. Typically, the process begins with someone presenting an opportunity to vulnerable individuals. These victims are then linked to a key player known as the ‘Connection Man’ or ‘Border’ who facilitates the trafficking operation.

The Connection Man acts as an agent responsible for overseeing the victims’ travel arrangements and linking them with ‘Buyers’ overseas who financially support the victims. Investigations revealed that some Buyers cover the travel expenses of the victims to decrease the payment owed to the Connection Man upon the victims’ arrival. From the buyers who are referred to as madams or masters, the victims are either sold again to ‘Users’ or rented out for different purposes.

Our correspondent’s research showed that trafficked victims in Nigeria are commonly exploited for prostitution, domestic servitude, forced labour, and organ trafficking. Throughout the entirety of the trafficking chain, spanning from the initial referrer to the Connection Man, Buyer, and ultimately the User, devious tactics are employed to keep the victims unaware of the imminent danger they are facing.

From Nigeria to Libya through a blood-sucking desert

After meeting with the Border, Joy was told to prepare to leave for France to meet a woman who had promised to fund her and help her settle down with a job in the French country. However, the story soon changed after her Border informed her that they would be going to Libya first.

What followed the road trip from Nigeria to Libya through the Sahara Desert were deaths, sickness, and abandonment.

She “The connection man connected me with the woman in France. The woman told me not to worry and she would take care of my traveling. She promised that when I get to France, there would be a job waiting for me. She asked what I could do and I said hair dressing, make-up, and decoration. She promised to fund me to start the businesses but said I would pay her back when I start making money. I agreed.

“I thought it would be by air until I ended up in Libya after traveling by land. The journey was hell. It was by the grace of God that I did not die. Some of us who left Nigeria together died in the desert while we were traveling.

“In my own case, I passed out and did not breathe for minutes. Everyone thought I was dead. After a long journey for two days in the desert without food and water, our driver, a Fulani man, stopped in the middle of the desert and asked us to climb a rock to the other side to look for water that early morning.

“As I was climbing, I passed out. That was the last thing I remembered. I woke up very late at night. My friends were scared and said I was a ghost. They shouted that I should not come close to them.

“They narrated how I was not breathing and they had already called the driver who was away saying that I had died. They said the driver had said he was coming to pick my corpse to bury. The driver arrived a few minutes after I woke up. He asked where the dead body was and everyone was staring at me. They explained what happened and we decided to continue the journey.”

It gets worse

As Joy was going deep into her story, her voice reflected the agony she went through. It cracked by the seconds as she tried to compose herself while at the same time massaging the baby she held in her hands.

“After passing through the dessert,” she continued, “we got to a place called Sabha. An Igbo man received us in Sabha. He was very wicked, rude, and was mistreating us. He sent some of us to ‘Connection House.’ That place is like a brothel where men would pay to have sex with the girls.”

A few days later, Joy and others were taken to Tripoli, the capital city of Libya. On the way, the police arrested some of her friends and sold them to Nigerian men for prostitution. They got to the seaside where they would cross to the other side before heading for Libya.

Libya experienced a conflict during that period. In 2017, there were ongoing clashes between various armed groups, including the Libyan National Army led by General Khalifa Haftar and forces aligned with the Government of National Accord. The conflict intensified in 2019, leading to increased violence and instability in the country.

At the point of crossing, Joy recounted that violence erupted near the seaside causing everyone to run to safety, away the sporadic shooting. Some lost their lives. Some were arrested while those trapped in the hands of randy militias became sex slaves.

As for Joy, she hid in a nearby bush along with other girls and citizens before calling her Madam, the woman in France to send help. The help that came ushered Joy into another episode of abuse for the next few months.

“She sent a Ghanaian man to come and pick me and one of my friends after the place was calm. The man took us to his home and we stayed there for a year and half. All through our stay, we were not allowed outside. We did not know when it was night or morning. We did everything indoors.

“We met some girls in the man’s house. The man was sleeping with so many of us in that house. Whenever anyone got pregnant, he would bring a doctor to the house to abort the pregnancy. None of us were working,” she added.

Gave birth in Libya

A year-and-half after Joy was housed in her master’s apartment, she was sold to another Ghanaian. Her former master tricked her into believing she would be sent to France before they broke the news to her that she had been sold.

“When I got to the new man’s house, he informed me that he paid the Border man some money to buy me. He said he needed girls to impregnate before pushing them to Europe. I started crying and begging the man for days,” she narrated.

Some days later, Joy was sent to Zuwarah, a coastal city in North-western Libya where she spent five years working as a cleaner.

She said, “Sometimes, they paid me. Sometimes, they beat me without paying. But I had to do it because I wanted to save some money. I called the Border and the woman in France but they said they were no more interested in my case. I became stranded.

“I started saving money to cross over to Italy because I was afraid of coming back to Nigeria where I had nobody. But I was duped by the traveling agents three times. Later, I met a Nigerian guy who said I could live with him. I got pregnant for him and gave birth in Libya.

“I suffered some complications because of the way I gave birth. In Libya, an outsider, especially Nigerians, are not welcomed in the hospitals. Even when you go, they won’t attend to you. Both of us were trying to see if we could cross to Italy together but the war then was affecting everything.”

A few months passed before hope smiled on Joy when she encountered a Good Samaritan who convinced her to return to Nigeria. She was taken to the International Organisation for Migration’s office in Libya where her papers were processed. By this time, she was pregnant again.

Back to Nigeria, she was received by ION Nigeria and given some money to settle down. The 28-year-old said, “I used part of it to rent an apartment in Iyana-Ipaja in Lagos and I started a business with the remaining. The business collapsed. I had twins from my second pregnancy.”

When asked about the father of the children, Joy said the two are currently not together adding that, “We experienced some mental issues due to what we went through in Libya. He was frustrated and I was frustrated too. The two of us being together was war and very difficult,” she said.

On July 5, Joy told our correspondent that her children’s father came to check on the kids.

Increasing cases

Findings by our correspondent showed recurring cases of kidnap and arrest linked to trafficking for sexual exploitation, forced labour, and illegal organ removal.

For instance, data from the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons disclosed that in 2020, there were 675 persons repatriated, 92 percent females and 8 percent males, including 498 victims of human trafficking.

NAPTIP in its 2019-2021 Country Data Collection and Analysis on Human Trafficking said 1,112 cases were reported in 2021. The Agency, however, rescued and rehabilitated 1,470 victims of trafficking.

The report further said that, “Among the assisted returnees were 1,332 who were victims of trafficking, survivors of Gender Based Violence, unaccompanied minors, returnees with severe mental health and psychosocial needs, physical health needs, and those exposed to violence or experienced other forms of exploitation, whom IOM supported in rehabilitating.

“Between 2019 and 2021, the South-South geopolitical zone recorded the highest percentage of victims of trafficking received with 24 percent of the total victims. 20 percent of the total was from the South-East; South-West recorded 18 percent while North-Central and North-West had 17 percent each.

“There was a considerable increase in the percentage of trafficked persons from the South-West, North-West and North-Central parts of the country in the reporting period. South-East witnessed a sharp decline in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic which increased in 2021 immediately after the lockdown.”

In an overnight rescue operation on June 23, a joint team comprising officials from the Nigerian Embassy and a Senegalese-based NGO successfully rescued 24 Nigerian girls from the clutches of sexual exploitation in the Tamaccounda and Kedougou Regions of Senegal.

On June 20, a 20-year-old man, Maxwell Nweke, was arrested for abducting five boys in the Adeniji Adele area of Lagos Island. Our correspondent gathered that Nweke lured the victims into following him to an unknown location after he purchased N500 worth of puff puff from them.

Meanwhile, the Anambra state government, on June 18, arrested a couple for selling their daughter to a woman for the sum of N1 million in Ifitedunu, Dunukofia Local Government Area of Anambra State.

In Rivers state, authorities intervened on September 6, 2022, and saved 15 children from a trafficking operation. The children, aged between 4 and 15 years, were discovered in the company of a 44-year-old woman who identified herself as a nun from the southern region of Nigeria’s Delta state.

Ran for dear life

Many of the survivors interviewed by this reporter said they fell prey to trafficking by trusting known persons. They said their desperation to seek greener pastures were exploited by the traffickers who made mouth-watering promises of high-paying jobs.

As soon as they commit themselves into the hands of disguised ‘Connection men’ or ‘Borders’, they are transported across Nigeria borders. The survivors said the transport experience was often life-threatening with little to no security of lives.

The dangers in the journey were captured by Lydia who said she escaped from her master by sheer luck.

Lydia, 26, a Polytechnic graduate, fell into a trafficking scheme after receiving a pamphlet on the roadside in 2022. Enticed by the job opportunity described in the advertisement, she dialled the number printed on the pamphlet. Within a few weeks, she was on her way to Libya.

“In Libya, some people came to the house we were in and we lined up for inspection. Later, they said those people would take care of our traveling. I and three other girls were told to follow one man.

“At his house, he said we would work to save up enough money to travel. That was when he said the job was to sleep with people. He threatened us and he also had some guys who are like his security. We had no choice but to start selling our bodies for money in his house.”

Lydia explained that they had to turn over the payment from their sexual encounters to their master, who only gave them a portion for basic needs.

After a few months of practicing their forced trade, their master had a quarrel with someone over a business matter and he stormed out with his security men that day, leaving the house unguarded and providing the girls with a chance to escape.

They encountered a Nigerian businessman a few days after their escape while relocating their shelters, and he assisted them in returning to Nigeria after hearing their story.

Life has not been the same since her return.

According to a psychologist, Grace Philip, trafficking experience has the tendency to disrupt the victim’s mental health. The coach explained that a survivor is likely to have post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression which can alter their life if not treated.

“They have flashbacks anytime and are unable to trust people. These impacts are worse for child trafficking survivors,” she added

Available laws in Nigeria

Findings by Sunday According showed that human trafficking is a grave violation of human rights that continues to plague societies worldwide, including Nigeria. In recent years, the Nigerian government has taken steps to fight human and child trafficking with new laws to prevent and prosecute these crimes.

These legislations include the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Law Enforcement and Administration Act, 2003, which criminalises various forms of trafficking and imposes penalties on offenders, the Child Rights Act, 2003, which prohibits the trafficking of children and provides for their protection and rehabilitation, Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act, 2015, and the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons Act, 2003.

International best practices

The United States’ Department of State in its 2022 Trafficking In Persons report said the federal government of Nigeria does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so.

It said, “Corruption and official complicity in trafficking crimes remained significant concerns, inhibiting law enforcement action. The government reported investigating four officials for involvement in trafficking crimes — a member of the Correctional Service, one member of the Immigration Service, and two members of the Civilian Joint Task Force. The members of the CJTF were both investigated for sex trafficking of Internally Displaced Persons.”

The report noted that local judges did not have the same standardised training requirements as federal and state judges, which contributed to corruption and misapplication of anti-trafficking laws.

It further said, “The government did not report prosecuting or convicting any suspects for sex trafficking of IDPs, though as noted above the government-initiated investigations of two CJTF members for such crimes. Terrorist and other illegal armed group activity hindered law enforcement and judicial officials’ actions, especially in the Northeast and Borno State.”

The 2023 TIP report said the government should invest in more anti-trafficking measures by providing adequate resourcing and financial support, especially when external partners have limited sources of funding.

It said, “Government partnerships with non-governmental organisations and survivors promote improved anti-trafficking plans and better outcomes; however, NGOs and survivors should not be expected to carry the financial burden of a government’s anti-trafficking responses.

“Effective partnerships for furthering investigations can be established between actors equipped with data-collection capabilities, intelligence sharing skills, and insights from individuals with lived experience of human trafficking, such as NGOs, CSOs, intelligence or investigative agencies, and survivor-led organisations.”

NGOs and anti-trafficking campaign

As child trafficking remains a pervasive and heartbreaking issue in Nigeria, there are several indications that non-governmental organisations play a vital role in combating this menace.

The Executive Director of Denny Social Welfare Hub, Abosede Otukpe, in an interview with our correspondent said poverty is a major factor contributing to the rise of trafficking cases in Nigeria.

Otukpe, a member of the Child Protection Network and West Africa Network for the Protection of Children explained what must be done to record more success in anti-trafficking campaigns, adding that local and international partnerships will aid the identification and rescue of trafficked children.

The social worker and migration expert said, “There is a need to educate communities about child trafficking risks and encourage reporting of suspicious activities by schools, religious institutions, and local leaders. Active community involvement is essential in prevention efforts. Also, education empowers children, reduces vulnerability, and prevents re-trafficking. We teach children about their rights and personal safety.

“We must advocate for stronger legislation, criminalizing trafficking and protecting victims. Adequate resource allocation for prevention, rescue, and rehabilitation is crucial. Likewise, international collaboration will further ensure advanced standards against child trafficking. Governments should also provide social amenities like education and make the country better and liveable to curb irregular migration and trafficking of our tomorrow’s leaders.”

Agreeing with Otukpe, a human rights and anti-trafficking advocate, Toyin Ojo, explained child trafficking is most prevalent in rural communities due to poor awareness and poverty which motivate parents to release their children to traffickers.

She said, “Child trafficking is most prevalent in rural areas. That is why there is a need to intensify sensitisation in those places. We always tell parents and guidance to be aware of where their children are being taken to.

“Awareness is a major fulcrum to raise child trafficking advocacy. There are some parents who would say they don’t know that allowing their children to travel out of the country to work before they are 18 years of age is a crime. Many of the poor people see it as an opportunity when someone invites their children to go abroad. So, advocacy will help parents understand the risks.”

Talking on the challenges of effective anti-trafficking advocacy, the lawyer said societal disposition toward trafficked children is bad as the society makes them a subject of ridicule because trafficked children have often been violated.

“There is also paucity of funds. There is also a need to provide a safe haven for the victims and the law enforcement agencies should also be active whenever a trafficking case is reported,” she added.

Anti-trafficking laws need more implementation – Legal experts

The former Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association’s Section on Public Interest and Development Law, Monday Ubani, speaking to our correspondent on June 26, said the anti-trafficking agencies should be evaluated to understand how the laws can be implemented more effectively.

He said, “One thing is to have laws. Another thing is to see how those laws are implemented. The problem is not the laws because the laws are there, but there have been several evaluations that showed that the laws are not living up to expectations. So, apart from enacting the laws, we need to evaluate the implementation.

“We also need to evaluate the agencies created by these laws. There was a recent evaluation that showed the shortcomings of the agencies. There may be a number of factors responsible for this like lack of funding. The crime may have reduced, unlike what we experienced before the enactment of the laws but there are still some holes to cover in terms of implementation.”

On striking a balance between prosecution of offenders and protection of victims, the public interest attorney said efforts should also be channelled toward helping the victims, adding that, “There are provisions about taking over custody of the victims, their welfare, education, and rehabilitation. But most times, they are released and left to go back into the situation that made them vulnerable to trafficking. We need to prosecute the offenders, but we need to see more implementation as regards taking care of the victims as well.”

Ubani noted that the solution to human trafficking must be holistic, adding that the punishment of convicted traffickers should be geared toward reformation

He said, “There are a lot of incentives the traffickers use to lure their victims like employment, relocation, and money. But generally, poverty is a major factor that pushes the victims to fall for these tricks. So, we should do all we can to ensure that the level of poverty is reduced. Apart from this, the government should provide free education to children and to see to it that they are employable. If this happens, there will be no time to fall for the traffickers’ tricks.

“So, the solution is multifaceted as it must be economical, political, and social. For the offenders, we must punish them to reform. There can be jail terms, fines, and confiscation of money and property. It must be a comprehensive punishment but they must be punished in a way that they do not become another problem for the society.

How we contribute to the fight against trafficking – NIDCOM

On June 14, the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission disclosed that it rescued 10 teenage girls who were trafficked to Ghana for prostitution and brought them back to Nigeria.

The Director of Media and Public Relations and Protocols of the Commission, Abdur-Rahman Balogun, during an interview with our correspondent on July 1 said, “Because of its vital role, concerned Nigerians invite us to help them out whenever there are Nigerians stranded or trafficked for shameful deals.

“We involve our embassies or High Commissions and equally use the Nigerians Diaspora Organisation in that particular country to get us the necessary information and facilitate repatriation before handing them back to relevant agencies. We have rescued a lot of Nigerians, especially youths through that process.”

Balogun explained that the Commission executes awareness initiatives and collaborate with relevant stakeholders in and outside the country on issues of relocation, migration, passport issuance, security, of Nigerians abroad

Speaking on the challenges, he said financial constraints limit the effectiveness of the Commission, adding that the lack of cooperation by Nigerians abroad also contributes to the trafficking and migration problems they face in foreign countries.

He said, “Some challenges are financial and some are bureaucratic. Lack of information also contributes to these challenges. Ideally, any country that a Nigerian travels to, they have to first report to the embassy, so, if there’s any issue, the embassy will promptly swift into action. But many Nigerians don’t do this.

“Another challenge is most Nigerians abroad don’t like to be captured in the system because they don’t want people to know where they are. This will affect data collection and monitoring because they are not cooperating.”

NAPTIP quiet

Mails sent to NAPTIP were not responded to.

However, on July 3, two days after sending both text and WhatsApp messages, the Agency’s spokesperson, Vincent Adekoye, told our correspondent that responses were being gathered. After sending a reminder on July 5, Adekoye said the responses were still under review.

“We want to ensure that you get correct statistics and correct narrative. I passed it (the responses) to the Director-General to take a look at it,” he added

He had yet to send the responses as at the time of filing this report.