Police Chief: Many Nigerians Tricked Into Human Trafficking by Criminals

06 November 2007 - Poverty and unemployment force many Africans into paying criminal gangs to help them get a better life elsewhere, but many are entrapped, brutally abused and exploited instead of finding a new life in Europe, according to a senior Nigerian police official. 

"A lot of Nigerians, and a lot of people from West Africa, due to economical problems are unemployed, so many people have been pushed to look for opportunities elsewhere," said Muhammad Babandede, Director of Investigation and Monitoring at Nigeria's National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and other Related Matters, NAPTIP.

"Traffickers promise them good jobs abroad, good work opportunities in developed societies. Thanks to globalisation, they see through media the better life, better opportunities (there), so they accept such offers," he added.

Factors contributing to the trafficking in human beings in West Africa include poverty, large family size, lack of educational opportunities and unemployment. Also contributing are lack of knowledge on the part of families and children of the risks involved in trafficking, high demand for cheap and submissive child labour in the informal economic sector, and youths' desire for emancipation through migration, according to a recent UNODC report.
 
Many are lured under false pretences to set out for a better life in Europe, but get abused and victimised on their way there. Often they end up not leaving the African continent at all, but are forced to work in Niger, Morocco and Mali instead, according to Mr. Babandede.

Among those reaching their destinations in Europe, the majority are forced to work in the sex industry, where they typically collect 15 euros for each customer. As they have been coerced into paying 40,000 to 50,000 euros to the criminal groups and pimps - or "madams" - behind the human trafficking, it is difficult to repay this debt.
 
In addition, "they have to pay their madams money for heating, money for rent, money for medical treatment. You can't imagine, it is a form of slavery - they can never pay it back," Mr. Babandede said.

Human trafficking is big business, and the UN and other organisations estimate the total global market value of this illicit activity to USD 32 billion, where about USD 10 billion is derived from the initial "sale" of individuals, while the remainder represent the profits from the services or goods produced by the victims.

In Nigeria, the high profits and relatively low risk of being caught are key motivators.

"A woman who has reached her destination, who has been able to get to Italy, has to pay as much as forty, fixty, sixty thousand euro to be free, and some madams have 10 girls! So it is big money! It is a very lucrative business. A low risk, high profit business," Mr. Babandede noted.

It is low risk, "because you are not sending drugs, where people will see evidence of the crime. It is a human being who is moving, and nobody knows that the person is being exploited until the person reaches the destination," he added.
 
For these reasons, there are well-organised criminal groups behind the illicit activities, with efficient support services helping them.

"It is an organised crime activity, because it is well organised by the madams who are at the base. They send money through many means; people are recruited and transported to them, so it is an organised crime. They have their lawyers in Europe if they get caught; they have their doctors who can help them with abortions. I think they are well organised," Mr. Babandede said.

Efforts are under way, though, to combat these crimes, prosecute those behind them, and assist the victims in re-establishing their lives. In Nigeria, for example, a special agency - NAPTIP - has been set up and new legislation enacted to help law enforcement officials in their work.

"The agency is empowered to stop all forms of trafficking. We have been able to get around 10 people behind bars today; we have been able to dislodge many criminal groups, to disrupt their movements along the border. We have around 50 cases in court, and we are disrupting (the criminals' operations)", Mr. Babandede concluded. 

Mr. Babandede was interviewed on the sidelines of the regional UN.GIFT event "The First Regional Anti-Human Trafficking Conference in Eastern Africa - Vulnerabilities of conflict and post conflict countries", taking place in Kampala, Uganda, in June. At the meeting, he delivered the presentation "Difficulties and Challenges in Investigating Organised Crime and Human Trafficking".

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Eastern African Police Chiefs Cooperation Organization (EAPCCO) and INTERPOL organized the conference. It was hosted by the Ugandan Government and National Police, and brought together officials from the eleven countries of the EAPCCO region

Launched in March 2007, the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UN.GIFT) aims to combat human trafficking by raising awareness, strengthening prevention, reducing demand, supporting and protecting victims, and improving law enforcement.

In total eight such regional UN.GIFT events are held, leading up to the global conference The Vienna Forum, taking place in the Austrian capital in February, 2008.