The International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Oyo State chapter, and the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) on Thursday sensitised women at Oje market in Ibadan to the dangers involved trafficking in persons.
The sensitisation rally was to commemorate the International Day Against Trafficking in Persons observed annually on July 30.
The event was also to raise awareness, encourage vigilance and gain support for prevention of human trafficking.
The theme of the 2023 celebration is “Reach every victim of trafficking, leave no one behind.”
Chairperson, FIDA, Oyo State, Mrs Olusola Suleiman said the sensitisation was necessary to stop trafficking in persons.
“We chose Oje market because we realised that market women are very vulnerable. It is uneducated people that are mostly victims of the scam.
“When they see someone who has promised to take their daughters abroad to Italy, Oman, Dubai and Libya, the market women easily buy into it, not knowing that it’s a way to traffick their daughter.
“They wouldn’t know that it is for the traffickers’ gain, not their own gain
“By the time the victim gets to the place of destination, his or her passport and cell phone will be seized, they will not be able to communicate with their family members again,” Suleiman said.
She said human trafficking could result to organ harvesting or introduction to prostitution for benefits of money, which would not come back to the victim herself or her family members.
NAPTIP Assistant Senior Detective, Mr Olusola Ayinde said that women need to be informed of the ploys used by traffickers who dangle fake promises of job opportunities overseas.
“This sensitisation will awaken market women on dangers therein in trafficking in persons and for them not to allow their daughters fall into the trap.
“The traffickers normally come as if they want to help the girls and their parents,” Ayinde said.
He implored parents to be their daughters’ friends and bond with them in order to prevent the latter falling victims of trafficking in persons.
Mrs Sukurat Ishola, a trader at Oje market, implored the Federal and state governments to provide jobs and establish manufacturing companies, so that unemployed graduates would be gainfully employed.
According to Ishola, most young girls are lured abroad due to poverty ravaging most families in Nigeria.