By ADAMU S. LADAN
DESPITE the spirited efforts being put by
various governments world over to curb the menace of human trafficking, over
two million people are reported to have fallen victims of the phenomenon.
Similarly, about 95 per cent of the victims are
said to be either Nigerians or persons holding the country�s passports.
Making the revelation in an NTA phone-in
programme �Tuesday-Live�, an executive director of the National Orientation
Agency (NOA), Mr. Otunba Shegun Runsewe, attributed the figure to the United
Nations.
Contributing in the programme also, an official
of the agency fighting human trafficking in Nigeria, Alhaji Muhammadu
Babandede, said 45 per cent of children hawking in the nation�s cities are
products of child trafficking from rural areas.
Lamenting on the gravity of human trafficking
and smuggling as well as child abuse and child labour, the panel of
discussants lashed at parents, the society and governments for the
situation.
They blamed both the society and parents for
abandoning the core values which instill discipline and moral rectitude
among children.
This, they said, made some unscrupulous
elements to cash on the situation to embark on trafficking the children.
The panelists also criticized some parents for
not monitoring the type of companies their children keep.
Mr. Runsewe, at this point, gave the example of
a parent who was deceived by his daughter who claimed to be in university
and it took him four years after the graduation date to discover that she
had never been to this university.
However, a caller Safinatu Muhammad, from
Lagos, carpeted governments in the country for pretending to be championing
the interest of women and youths, saying that something must be done to
salvage the situation before the recalcitrants spell doom on the country.
Other callers also commented on the almijiri
system of Qur�anic education describing it as another form of child abuse
and urged governments especially in the Northern part of the country to do
something about it.
A caller, Leby from Benin, however condemned
the government for not addressing the root causes of the problems of child
abuse and trafficking which he attributed to abject poverty, unemployment
and other forms of human degradations the people are subjected to by the
present administration.
Defending the government Alhaji Babandede, who
described trafficking as a vehicle for exploitation, said government was up
and doing in tackling the problem.
