As many Nigerians continue to migrate to other countries to work and make money, YEJIDE GBENGA-OGUNDARE reports that the dreams of earning money by many of the women immigrants quickly fizzle out as they are sold as sex slaves to pimps who work hand in hand with the cartel that traffic them on the pretence of getting them jobs
Selina (not real name) is a 30-year-old woman with no hope or plans for the future except to survive each day and gain her sanity and inner strength back; she is learning to live each day in freedom and overcome psychological and emotional trauma following her 10 years experience as a sex slave in Italy. Though in 18 months since she stepped back on the shores of Nigeria, she had regained part of her lost self esteem; her horrifying experience has turned a once vibrant young woman into a shell as she still finds it difficult to stay in crowds and has to work hard to talk in the presence of strange men.
This had not always been the case as the 30-year-old was once a vibrant fashion designer who had high hopes of being one of the best in her field until she caught the bug of travelling abroad to make money and upgrading herself. She spent so much until she was introduced to someone that will take her to Europe.
She was taken through many tortuous trails but she finally ended in Italy where her passport was immediately taken from her and she was sold into a life of slavery; selling her body to various clientele while someone else takes the proceeds. She could barely afford the necessities of daily living, send any cash home or save as she had planned for a better life. This was her life for 10 years before she got rescued when a colleague died and they were all arrested and deported.
“It was a life of torture. We were beaten frequently, treated like animals and psychologically trained to lose our will and sense of worth. I lost all sense of timing, relevance and the will to get out, I like many others were too afraid of making a move that will cost us our lives,” she stated, adding that she had been helped by many organizations to get out of the spiral of fear since she came back to Nigeria though she still has a long way to go to be whole as she is sure she can never go back to the girl that she used to be.
“We are isolated from the community and often, we do not understand the language of the pimps or customers. You can’t make friends even among ourselves and our communication is monitored so we communicate secretly and with signs,’ she explained.
Few days ago, the video of a man that wants to get married to another woman after sending his wife abroad to work for money went viral on social media. The man was found out by his pastor who felt his tales didn’t add up. At present, the whereabouts of the woman cannot be ascertained and the husband that sent her abroad is ready to move on since the expected money isn’t trailing in.
This is the situation that many women immigrants have found themselves; they become sex slaves that are used to make money without concern for their health or life. Some are beaten; some killed while many are used for pornography without their knowledge while they face many hazards in the line of this duty. Though not all victims of human trafficking becomes sex slaves, the number that become slaves especially from Africa and other war torn countries continues to swell.
The United Nations statistics says an estimated 2.5 million people fall victim of trafficking the world over with 80 per cent of this figure sold into sex slavery and annually, an estimated 800,000 women and children are trafficked across international borders with a great number trafficked within city borders. And according to statistics, trafficking is an industry with $32billon return annually; a trafficker is said to make up to 1,000 pound or dollars weekly by taking on multiple partners daily. Some are forced to sleep with about an average of 50 to 100 men while they hand over the proceeds to their masters, who are usually ready to kill them if they suspect cheating.
People from diverse backgrounds gets trafficked but in Nigeria, many are lured into slavery by enticing them with offers of work which is often as house helps, nannies and shop assistants while some get sold into slavery by boyfriends that take them abroad or neighbors and family members.
Human trafficking is said to be prevalent in countries with unstable economy where the citizens experience poverty, unemployment or mass loss of jobs and many have lost hope in the promise of a better future. Experts also attribute widespread corruption as well as greed as factors that aid the widespread of sex trafficking
Speaking with Nigerian Tribune, ACP Aderemi Adeoye, Ag Police Coordinator at the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa list causes of sex trafficking as poverty, unemployment, the desire to make it and ignorance among women and greed, weak implementation of anti human trafficking laws that embolden the slave masters on a general level.
He explained that many die enroute Europe while trying to cross the Mediterranean sea, many are sexually abused and raped while some are sold into sex slavery and others having no well formulated arrangement engage in prostitution willingly and constitute a nuisance in the countries they enter and further batter the image of the country.
On his part, Chief Kole Ojo, the Chairman of the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) society in Oyo state described trafficking and selling women into slavery as a dastardly and criminal activity that should attract global condemnation from both the countries where the women take off from and their country of destination. “It is against humanity and human right law and offenders should face the sternest penalties. Poverty is the root cause of materialistic instincts of many of the victims,” he added.
Though some men are also sold into slavery as se objects, the percentage is rather small in comparison to that of the female gender and some attribute this to the cultural orientation of some race that hold the belief that the feminine gender has no real importance and usefulness other than serving the male and so think they can be treated as chattels; abused and treated as objects of ridicule.
Victims like Selina that were lucky to find an escape explained that immediately they land in the designated countries, their passports are seized and since most are illegal immigrants, there is no boldness to report such matters, so they live in bondage with misery and series of degrading treatment and psychological torture as well as threats to maintain their silence.
The effect of the degradation experienced by victims goes beyond the physical; even years after they regain their freedom, the mental and emotional trauma is a web that covers them from a normal life; grief, self hatred, fear, isolation and suicidal tendencies become a normal thing.
The effect of sex slavery is not only to the victim and their families’ it also affects the community by aiding other forms of illegality and affects the labour market through loss of valuable human and capital resources.
But in spite of the grave effects, the trend continues to evolve and the traffic rings get bigger. Some believe that the harrowing experience being narrated by victims that escape should serve as deterrent to others but reverse is the case, many still embark on such journeys with the hope that their situation will be different from those they consider unfortunate.
“Things like that will continue to happen because the situation of the economy and poverty level in the country has given many people across all age brackets the idea that they cannot make it except they live the shores of Nigeria. The craze for overseas travel and the belief that once they manage to enter foreign countries, things will get better is the root of the problem.
“Even with adequate legislation, there should be conscious advocacy and reorientation for people especially youths, they should be told that if they have to travel, they should take the right channel so they don’t fall prey of slave masters, sexual or otherwise or meet with untimely death,” Akinwande Soji-Ojo, the programmes officer at Beth-Zion Ventures told Nigerian Tribune.
On her part, the founder of a nongovernmental organization, the Human of Substance Empowerment Initiative (HOSEI), Barrister Abiade Olawanle Abiola told Nigerian Tribune that continually blaming the government for the trend due to poor economy is just a means of shying away the truth and more serious causes when in reality the situation on ground requires immediate attention. According to her, ‘often we all put the problem on government; we say it happens because the economy is bad and there is poverty in the land.
“But until we face the reality that greed, laziness and lack of contentment is the reason many of the immigrants fall victim, we may not make headway. They are so desperate that they take the wrong channels, as an organization we have seen so many cases like this and the truth is a great percentage of them know what they are getting into, believing they will sort it out once they get there while those that don’t know are deliberately kept in ignorance by their family or friends that sell them off.,’ she said
How can the menace be curbed, ACP Adeoye has an all encompassing idea. For him, there is a need to strengthen implementation o anti human trafficking laws, improve on intelligence gathering to identify and smash human trafficking rings, address problems of unemployment, fomulate policies that protect women and promote their employment prospects and promote awareness campaigns on the dangers inherent in such endeavour with a view to discouraging same.
For Abiade, the first step is for women to see themselves as individuals with self worth who can stand on their own and does not depend on others for their livelihood and stop getting carried away with lovers who they know nothing about than the fact that he lives abroad or looking for the easy life in unfamiliar territories.