NAN MD tasks media practitioners on human trafficking

Onanuga made the call in Lagos while presenting a paper on “Reportage of Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery issues in Nigeria: The Role of The Media as a Change Agent’’.

The NAN chief executive, who was represented by Mr Idonije Obakhedo, a Deputy Editor-in-Chief/Head of Editorial Operations, gave the charge at the Inaugural National Conference on Human Trafficking, organised by the Salvation Army, Nigeria Territory.

The theme of the two-day conference was: “Human Trafficking and Modern-Day Slavery: Collaboration, Working, Sharing and Lobbying as a Pathway for Sustainable Change.’’

According to Onanuga, the media should be in the forefront of the reportage and analysis of Anti-Trafficking Initiatives and other outreach activities of NAPTIP (the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons), as well as its stakeholders and partners.

“It must, therefore, intensify its watchdog role and be part of both local and global efforts to stem illegal migration and modern-day slavery.

“To enhance this advocacy role, the media should interface effectively with other stakeholders and interest groups, including civil society organisations, migration professionals and state governments,’’ he said.

The NAN chief executive also charged religious and traditional institutions to begin to assume their responsibilities and work to adequately enlighten their adherents on dangers in the human trafficking menace.

Mrs Paska Moore, Manager of the Salvation Army’s Community Awareness and Recovery Projects in Nigeria and the Philippines, expressed the need for communities to mobilise themselves into protective groups against human trafficking.

Moore, therefore, urged the Nigerian Government to develop a national action plan against trafficking that would make it easy for NAPTIP to monitor all anti-human trafficking activities in the country.

“Human trafficking is everyone’s problem. Therefore, it is everyone that should join in proffering solutions to the menace,’’ she said.

On the part of the church, Rev. Fr. Evaristus Bassey, Executive Secretary, Catholic CARITAS Foundation of Nigeria, said more attention should be given to the education of the youth, particularly the girl child.

Bassey, represented by Rev. Fr. Raymond Anoliefo, Director of the Justice Development for Peace Commission, said that uneducated young Nigerians were the most vulnerable group to human trafficking, stressing that there should be free education for the girl child.

He spoke on: “The Pivotal Role of Faith-Based Organisations in Ending Modern Slavery – An Insider’s Perspective’’.

Bassey said: “there should be aids granted to mission schools. Local churches must serve as centres for school education for the masses, especially on the sanctity and sacredness of life,’’ he said.

The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), however, identified limitations why some trafficking victims were able to scale through the borders posts, noting that some of them were able to present genuine travel documents.

Mr Tarfa Adiga, an Immigration Officer at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, who represented the NIS Controller-General, Mr Muhammed Babandede, spoke on “Current Trafficking In Persons, Law Enforcement and Survival Return Process in Nigeria: the NIS in Focus’’.

Adiga said that many individuals were crossing the borders with genuine travel documents, stressing that their explanations will, however, never indicate that they were being trafficked.

The Proprietress of a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), `Girls Power Initiative’, Mrs Blessing Ehigwina, urged parents to give the girl child equal educational opportunities with their boys, stressing that, “girls are not less important than the boys.’’

She said that in Edo State, there was a motor park called the Libya Park in Uromi, stressing that many Edo indigenes were being trafficked to Libya in vehicles, on a daily basis.

Another NGO Proprietor, Mr Abdulganiyu Abubakar, the Director, `Save the Child Initiative’, said that the porous nature of Nigeria’s borders with its neighbouring countries encouraged human trafficking to a large extent.

Abubakar said that at Ilela, a border town in Sokoto State, more than 60 illegal routes where Nigerians were being trafficked to other countries had been identified, stressing that government should pay attention to such routes.

The Salvation Army’s programme Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr Eric Umoru, said that the conference was part of a community awareness and recovery programme organised by the Church in Nigeria and the Philippines, in collaboration with the UK Home Office.

“As part of continuing efforts to increase collaboration with other stakeholders, more national and regional conferences will be organised,’’ Umoru added.