Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has called for concerted and coordinated global efforts to end the scourge of human trafficking across the world, stressing that the global nature of the issue of illegal migrants and human trafficking are such that only multilateral actions buoyed by strong economic development of nations would end the scourge.
He spoke in New York at the meeting on Modern Slavery hosted by the Prime Minister of United Kingdom, Theresa May, on the sideline of the 71st Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA71). The meeting which held at the residence of the United Kingdom Permanent Representative to the UN was attended by other world leaders. It was to draw the attention once more to the growing menace of illegal migrants and child trafficking across trans-national and trans-continental borders.
On efforts by his government to stem the tide, he said: “We are also investing more on infrastructure development, education and health for our people. When the results of our efforts become manifest, the attraction of seeking greener pastures abroad will lesson.”
A statement made available by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, Tuesday, said that Buhari specifically commended the British Prime Minister for drawing the attention of the international community to such a serious matter, to coincide with a time the global focus was on migration and refugee crisis which he described as “modern day human tragedies.”
Recently, the world had been stretched by refugee and migrants issues in the wake of the unrest in some nations especially Syria and Somalia; an unrest triggered by religious fanatics and zealots using the tenet of Jihad to foment trouble.
According to Buhari, one way to end refugee and migrant issues is for nations to offer good governance that would engender development in their local economies such that their citizens would no longer have the need to migrate to foreign countries where they would become liabilities.
“More worrisome is the fact that human trafficking and modern day slavery have created a dangerous political economy of their own. In consequence, this international criminality is defined by the activities of human traffickers that lure unsuspecting victims into forced labour, inhuman treatment, money laundering and prostitution,” the President said.
According to him, Nigeria “is ready and willing to partner with other countries and international organizations to confront this phenomenon. We have a strong commitment to combating the menace of modern slavery, and will redouble our efforts to prohibit human trafficking, while providing succour to its hapless victims.”
He assured the world “to count on the support of Nigeria in dealing with this evil, which constitutes an unacceptable stain on human dignity and conscience in the 21st century,” adding that the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, and the Nigeria Immigration Service had taken steps to establish a joint operational Working Group to combat human trafficking and smuggling of migrants from the country.
“We are aware of the challenge for Nigeria, but our resolve to combat it is strong and unshakable,” the President declared.
Nigeria has had a fair share of the human trafficking and migrants’ issues, hitting a notorious note in Italy where young Nigerian girls and women were lured to by syndicates to practice prostitution. NAPTIP has collaborated with other word bodies in the fight against trafficking which has yielded significant results in recent years.
