Politics
THE Oyo State Government on Monday urged stakeholders to partner with it to reduce the growing cases of child trafficking.
Mrs Atinuke Osunkoya, the state Commissioner for Women Affairs, Community Development, Social Welfare and Community Development, made the appeal in Ibadan at a seminar to mark the United Nations International Day against Trafficking in Persons.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the seminar was jointly organised by the ministry and Live Abundantly Empowerment Initiative, an NGO, to sensitise students, NYSC members and market women on the dangers of human trafficking.
Osunkoya said that the unprecedented increase in human trafficking cases in the state made it crucial, more than ever, for coordinated and shared responsibility in the fight against human trafficking.
She said that while the state government was working intensely to reduce and resist the menace, other stakeholders including parents and enforcement agencies could not afford to sit on the sidelines.
“Human Trafficking involves the recruitment, transporting or harbouring of people into a situation of exploitation against their will, through the use of violence, deception or coercion.
“So, this year’s occasion is not only relevant but necessary following the unprecedented increase in human trafficking cases.
“There is a rising determination to end this scourge, which has led to a growth in movements against sexual harassment, violence, hard labour and discrimination against victims.
“There is no gainsaying that victims of trafficking are forced into these situations with no reward or support, as well as little chance of escape.
“Therefore, it is our collective responsibility to raise public awareness and offer adequate aid to victims,” the commissioner said.
According to her, the state is highly dedicated and committed to tracking down the perpetrators of human trafficking.
She said that the state had successfully counselled and returned some recent deportees from Libya to their families.
“Quite a number of them have been successfully empowered by Oyo State Government and we are sponsoring various advocacy programmes at both the grassroots and the urban centres,” Osunkoya said.
The State Commissioner for Information, Mr Toye Arulogun, said the state government was alive to its responsibility of reducing the vulnerability of potential victims and developing strategies to address the root causes of trafficking.
“Given those raw data staring us in the face, the state the government has taken up the challenge of putting a stop to human trafficking.
“Our people are lured by the fake promises of greener pastures and are made to pay a huge sum of money to these fraudsters who call themselves agents.
“Why not use that money, some spend between N300,000 and a million naira, to start a business rather than subjecting yourself to unknown ordeals.
“We are calling on parents, guardians, residents and its citizens to prioritise their values and desist from employing the services of visa fraudsters and traffickers in order to seek greener pastures,” he said.
Also speaking, Dr Ama Onyerinma, the Founder of Live Abundantly Empowerment Initiative, said human trafficking could single-handedly destroy the essence of humanity.
“Human trafficking is a cut that runs deeply into the core of your being. It strips you of the dignity of humanity leaving a walking corpse open to the vultures of the earth.
“You can dress up the body but the scar is permanently embedded because you cannot trust another person, particularly those who knowingly inflicted such pain,” she said.
Onyerinma said that awareness, advocacy and education were crucial at all levels to fight the menace.
“ We must start to recognise our children, mothers and family members as not a commodity to be cut up with scars from beatings, hunger, sexual violence, chains, branding for sale and death.
“We must stop human trafficking by speaking up in our home, schools, community and society.
“We cannot, as a nation, continue to be the world’s supplier for human beings traded like commodities on the stock market.
“ The government must not continue to allow our citizens to languish in sores and scars because the cut and scars of human trafficking run deep and are permanent,” she said.
The wife of the governor, Mrs Florence Ajimobi, advised women to take advantage of the global initiative for women’s empowerment by getting involved in governance and politics to stop women and child trafficking.
Ajimobi, represented by Mrs Dolapo Oyedipe, an aide, said thousands of women and children continue to be victims of trafficking every year.
NAN reports that July 30 each year had been declared the United Nations International Day against Trafficking in Persons. (NAN)
– Jul. 30, 2018 @ 17:55 GMT |
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