Niran Odufayo
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) with the support of Partners, has intercepted 13 girls suspected to be victims of human trafficking en route to Baghdad, Iraq for sexual and labour exploitation.
The girls whose ages range between 19 to 39 years were allegedly deceived and recruited by some faceless unregistered Labour Recruiters who are suspected to be agents of a larger criminal labour recruiting gang operating between Nigeria and some Middle East Countries.
They were intercepted at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja, shortly before departing for Iraq.
Similarly, the operatives of the Agency has sealed up a popular Three Stars Hotel located at the ever-busy Community of Kwali, Kwali Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, and rescued 11 underaged girls suspected of being used for sexual expedition.
Luck however ran on the owner of the hotel as she was arrested while other supporting staff escaped.
The development came barely one month after operatives of NAPTIP burst a private apartment located inside one of the highbrow estates in the heart of Abuja and rescued 9 pregnant girls suspected to be victims of human trafficking.
The interception of the Iraq-bound girls followed a tip-off by some concerned partners who noticed the unusual movement of some unknown faces at the departure lounge of the Airport in the company of some timidly looking girls all chorusing the same answer to different questions about their destination, and immediately alerted the Agency.
Speaking on the incident, the Director General of NAPTIP, Binta Adamu Bello, who witnessed the interception of the first batch of five girls at the Airport on her way out of Abuja for an official duty to Adamawa State, expressed displeasure over the level of deceit by the traffickers and called on parents and guardian to always be careful of fake promises for their children and wards.
The Director General said, “I wish to point out that our action is in line with the provision of the Trafficking in Persons (Control of Activities of Organizations and Centres) Regulations 2019, which empowers NAPTIP to issue clearance certificates to all travel agents or tour operators and intending travellers for the purpose of Educational excursions, Recruitment for Labour, Sporting activities, Cultural, music excursions or competitions as well as all organizations, shelters, and homes offering services for the purpose of rehabilitation of trafficked persons.
“The case at hand is pathetic because these girls were deceived and recruited for a supposed job in Baghdad by unlicensed labour recruiters who are not known to any constituted authority in Nigeria.”
According to the DG, this implies that should anything happen to these girls; we will not be able to hold anyone responsible because they are undocumented labourers.
In a statement issued by the press officer of the agency, Mr.Vincent Adekoye, the girls were also issued 60-day visas and yet signed a labour agreement of 2 years with them.
The implication of this is that as soon as the visa expires, they are at the mercy of the master and lose all legal rights to demand anything including their legitimate salary.
“Investigation revealed that they will be paid a sum of 250 dollars as monthly salary by their tax master out of which they will remit 4 months’ salary to the Agent here in Nigeria and another huge sum to the Agent in Iraq.
“From the testimonies of scores of victims who passed through the same condition, they were never paid regularly as expected, maybe four or five months only for the agreed contract period of 2 years. In fact, the major issue with their master is when they ask for their salary to be paid.
“We are seriously worried about the situation because some who were rescued recently came home with life-threatening medical conditions while others escaped with a life-threatening wound and everlasting scars inflicted on them by their masters.
“We are also on the lookout for the unscrupulous unregistered recruiters who are behind all these scenarios,” he writes.