To curb the alarming rise of sex slavery Nigerian
women are subjected to, the House of Representatives on Wednesday urged the
personnel of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) at the ports and borders of
Nigeria to make it mandatory for all border officials of all security agencies
to be trained by National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons
(NAPTIP).
Also, the House has reported that several Nigerian women are regrettably into sex slavery across the world.
It therefore directed NIS to permit trained NAPTIP
officials to operate, spot, identify and prevent the illicit emigration of
potential victims.
The House also urged NAPTIP to begin to shame the
traffickers in their homes, including the widespread publication of the names
and pictures of convicted traffickers.
The resolution was sequel to the adoption of a
motion titled: 'Need to Investigate the Degrading Sex Slavery Nigerian Women
are Subjected to’, which was jointly sponsored by Hons. Rimamnde Shawulu
Kwewum, Yunusa Ahmed Abubakar, Zakariya Nyampam, Abubakar Hassan Fulata,
Kwamoti Bitrus Laori, Babajimi Benson, Sada Soli and Dachung Musa Bagos.
Moving the motion, Kwewum noted that there are thousands
of Nigerian women and even underage girls have been reportedly turned into sex
slaves in European and several Middle East countries and well as other parts of
the world.
He said the House is aware that NAPTIP has
conducted several investigations and discovered that between 20,000 and 30,000
Nigerian girls are sex slaves with 50 additional girls being added to the list
everyday.
The lawmaker bemoaned the ill-treatment the neighbouring
West African countries apply on Nigerian women by keeping them as sex slaves
and providing safe haven for perpetrators of human trafficking.
He worried that the continuation of this activity has
dented the image of the country, saying it provides room for other West African
countries to disrespect, not just Nigerian women, but all Nigerians.
According to him, "President Muhammadu Buhari
in Sochi, Russia, recently gave the assurance to the effect that the Nigerian
Government would stretch its reach and capacity to protect all Nigerians all
over the world. We are aware that recently, the Nigerian Ambassador to Burkina
Faso, Ramatu Ahmed, raised the alarm that no fewer than 10,000 Nigerian women,
mainly under-aged girls, are forced into prostitution in Ouagadougou and other
mining camps across West Africa. Many of the victims were deceived by friends
and relatives to leave Nigeria for greener pastures (mostly domestic work, hair
dressing or sales) in 'Mali-sia' only to discover later that they were being
used for sex trade.
"Nigerian girls are trafficked mainly to the
mining areas in the South and Central part of Mali, but a substantial number
are trafficked to rebel held areas in the North of Mali, where they stand the
risk of being radicalised. The border point between Nigeria and Benin Republic
at Seme-Krake is notoriously porous and in spite of numerous reports and
pictures of notorious trafficking sent to Nigerian security agencies at the
border, no action has been taken to curb the practice."
Kwewum, while commending the current efforts made to
combat the menace, however, said it is not far reaching and comprehensive, and
have not been adequately funded.
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