The Menace of Human Trafficking and its Eradication -By Shehu Mubarak

Obviously, we’ve been hearing the news, the high cases of human trafficking, but in emphasis, what is human trafficking? Human trafficking is defined as ​the crime of transporting or controlling people and forcing them to work in the sex trade or other forms of forced labour.

This act also refers to the illegal transportation of people for exploitative purposes like sexual slavery and hard labor among others. According to statista.com, in the year 2018 a total number of 1076 child trafficking cases was reported, this makes it conclusive that the prejudice of human trafficking in the world especially in Africa has rendered the futures of many victims into jeopardy by forcibly being engaged in many illicit job which turned most of them to professional harlot, slaves, sex toys and other sick, immoral and illegal actions.

This as a result makes the victims lost their hope of becoming great in life, they thus become parts of the “no future ambition” team. Many youths have been deceived by the human traffickers, they were promised good jobs, shelter, educational opportunities and the like initially but what they receive at the end of the day are atrocious jobs.

Human trafficking is the second largest criminal industry after drug abuse, and it is generally perceived, incontrovertibly, it’s the youths that are mostly the victims of the inhumane action which is human trafficking. It’s also recorded that human trafficking has been the source of numerous people’s deaths
mostly amongst the youths throughout the globe particularly Africa.

Human trafficking is rampant as a result of these factors; poverty is the first in the list, this is dominant because today many Nigerians live in abject poverty which is serving as a great opportunity for traffickers to deceive youths for a good life.

Second in the list is lack of education; this also happen to be one of the major challengez confronting Africa as a whole which limits an individual to work and get an impressive remuneration and thus leads to less knowledge through which they can be deceived about a lot of things which they know nothing about as an unlettered, ignorant, illiterate and common human being.

Obviously, it is unarguable that an uneducated person is vulnerable to human trafficking as that is based on the level of his ignorance. There are a number of youths who are very interested in getting educated, but that is something that proves, at most times, abortive due to lack of access to education. They are then deceived by these human traffickers for the sake of paving way for them to be soundly educated and compete with others in the labour market- unfortunately for them, they eventually find themselves in an irritating mess.

War; human traffickers find places where there is war to perpetuate their selfish interest of making a huge wealth due to the fact that the people of that particular area will be in thorough search of escape route to where they can live in peace and shelter themselves. So, it is through this medium the human traffickers exploit the oppressed.

Though, there are a lot of hidden factors attached to human trafficking which play undisputable role in its flourishness. However, it is very crucial to think critically on how to curtail the juicy business of the brutal traffickers.

How can human trafficking he stopped?

Definitely, It can be stopped through enlightenment programs and creation of awareness for people most especially the contemporary youths who carelessly look for opportunities because they are the one subjected to human trafficking. Also, parents’ hands should be on deck by looking after their children because the traffickers convince most parents of victims with good jobs if these parents could allow their wards to travel with them abroad. In effect, the parents should be guided even no matter the adversity they might be going through.

Also the government should try to provide jobs and standard economy for the country so that they won’t be beckoned by the lies the human traffickers tell. Good educational status is one of the main issues we are battling with in Nigeria, so if that could be solved, the rate at which human beings are brutally exploited will reduce.

In conclusion, standardization of education will serve as a stimulus in the reduction of human trafficking because such deceits won’t get into their ears. Youths should also try to be creative and try to be independent and self-determined, they should never get attracted by petty things people use as deceits to lure them in hell as while human trafficking is not only about smuggling people out of the country for illegal purposes but also trafficking them even within vicinity. Strangers also should be beware of as most of human traffickers appear initially as strangers.