Ignored Internal Child Trafficking In Nigeria: Restless Youths at Onitsha and Other Nigerian Cities Are Wake-Up Calls

(Part 1- Brief Overview)

New York, August 16, 2006—Following the recent mayhem in Onitsha and other cities in eastern parts of Nigerian whereby the uneducated and unemployed poor youths clashed with the security forces leading to loss of lives, declaration of state of emergency in affected areas and loss of more lives; Africans In America, Inc. wish to state the following:

The restless youths at Onitsha and other towns in the eastern Nigeria is accumulation of internal human trafficking issues widely visited upon the poor rural dwellers since the end of Nigeria-Biafran Civil War in 1970.

While the business class residing in Onitsha and other cities invaded the un-developed rural villages, recruited and lured the young boys and girls from poor families with promises of better life, apprenticeship, skill training, trading skill training and other skill training and assisting them to establish their own business at the end of usually 5 years learning period; there is no system in place to ensure the business class keep the promise made to the poor youths and their families.

Youths as young as 10 – 12 years old are periodically recruited fresh from primary school into this unsupervised, uncontrolled, unmonitored and undocumented practice were lured away from their parents and moved into the urban areas.

Upon getting to the final destination (usually the residence of the master - businessman/trader), the poor youths were subjected to excruciating life of servant/slavery in both household and businesses for 5 years; and sometimes 7 to 8 years without pay or any form of remuneration. They eat leftover foods, sleep on bare floors, dress shabbily, first to wake up early in the morning and last to go to sleep, medically neglected, physically and emotionally abused.

Consequently, the business class used the poor youths silly and rarely keep their promise at the end of the long ‘training’ period. They would frame the poor servants/maids with spurious allegation and send them away ‘empty-handed’. The master businessman/trader usually, always invent reasons to justify non-compliance of their own part of the arrangement.

While this practice is well known, successive occupier-governments and cronies imposed on the eastern Nigeria since the end of Nigerian-Biafran War ignored the issue. Left unaddressed, the problem of stranded, jobless, homeless, moneyless victims in urban towns keep piling up in very large numbers, and it has today resulted in a colossal social nightmare.

Our preliminary investigation indicates that while millions of youths of Igbo origin were trafficked from undeveloped villages into semi-developed urban areas, less than 2% percent of the youths lured into this practice actually do get what could be considered a fair settlement for their services.

What then happens to about 98% of disappointed youths thrown out in the street and stranded? These youths, haven seen light and ‘lights’ would not want to go back to the village ‘bushes’.

Do government have a role to these youths who in our judgment are clearly victims of the circumstance the same government should have controlled? Are “shoot at sight” and “death penalty” orders from government responsible answers to these quagmires? How about innocent spectators and passers-bye?

Governments (Federal, State and Local), including the law enforcement should honestly and realistically appraise the issues at hand and come up with systemic plans to address them.

Africans In America, Inc. is pledging to assist the respective governments to formulate and develop workable (efficient and cost effective) plans to address these problems.