Deputy gov canvasses collaboration to tackle traffickers

Lagos State Deputy Governor, Mrs. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, has called on security agencies, non-governmental organisations, parents and corporate organisations to join hands with the government to combat human trafficking.


Orelope-Adefulire made the appeal during the inaugural conference on sex work abuse and human trafficking in Lagos on Wednesday.

The conference was organised by the state’s Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation in collaboration with Lydia Grace Foundation.

The Deputy-Governor said the conference was more of an awareness and sensitisation programme to call the attention of everyone, particularly parents and women, to the act.

Orelope-Adefulire said trafficking in humans was a crime against humanity, stressing that it was a man’s inhumanity to man.

She said in recent times, there had been an increase in the rate at which people perpetrated the act, adding that unfortunately the people behind the act were those who lived “among us.”

“I wish to urge all of us, all the stakeholders involved, that is, the immigration officers, the police, non-governmental organisations and corporate organisations to make concerted efforts and cooperate with the government to ensure that the culprits are brought to book,” she said.

Orelope-Adefulire said global reports had confirmed Nigeria as a source, veritable transit and destination country for women and children subjected to trafficking.

She said trafficked Nigerian women and underage children were mostly forced into involuntary domestic servitude and commercial sexual exploitation.

In her remarks, Permanent Secretary, WAPA, Mrs. Riskat Akiyode, said human trafficking was a global phenomenon and one of the most lucrative illicit businesses which was criminally directed at women and teenage girls for exploitation.

She said, “For us to surmount this deliberate crime against humanity, it becomes imperative for all of us to join in the fight so that we can achieve an enduring peace in our societies.”

Akiyode said the event was organised to seek awareness and build a stronger national action against sex work abuse and human trafficking.

Chairman, Lydia-Grace Foundation, Pastor Ituah Ighodalo, commended the government for partnering with the foundation to address the critical issue affecting women.

He urged other state governments to emulate Lagos and partner with relevant bodies to ensure that the sensitisation and campaign against human trafficking go round the entire country.