Rep urges FG, states to intensify anti-trafficking awareness

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A House of Reps member, Dominic Okafor, has urged the federal and state governments to intensify awareness campaigns against the scourge of human trafficki Read More:…

The member representing Aguata Federal Constituency of Anambra State, Dominic Okafor has called on the federal and state governments to intensify awareness campaign against the scourge of human trafficking involving vulnerable Nigerians.

Recalling an experience from his recent trip outside the country, the All Progressives Grand Alliance chieftain lamented the growing incidences of human trafficking, lamenting that while there are adequate laws to address the menace, a lot still need to be done in the area of implementation.

He said, “the essence of moving the motion was to raise that awareness, to escalate the issue so that it shouldn’t just be left for the national, but also for a sub-national governments.

“As a matter of fact, what actually prompted me is that last month, I had to travel to the Middle East with Ethiopian Airline. And while we were boarding in Abuja, I noticed that there were quite a number of young ladies in the same aircraft with me. I was worried.

“I initially thought they were female footballers and all that. So when we got to Addis Ababa, it happened that we had a very long layover. And usually, when you have a long layover, they will put you in their hotel. When we got to the hotel, I was really disturbed.”

He noted that when he interrogated some of the girls, they gave related reasons for travelling, especially the quest for employment.

He continued, “the essence of this motion is to sensitise everyone about the dangers of child trafficking. Like I said, both the sub-nationals and the local governments should also get involved.”

Earlier at a plenary session presided over by the Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, Okafor described human trafficking as a grave national and transnational crisis, “with women, children and vulnerable demographics disproportionally subjected to commercial sexual exploitation , forced labour, domestic servitude, forced begging, organ harvesting and other degrading and other degrading abuse.”

He said, “The House is concerned that…

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