Mr Saleh Samanja, Yobe State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, says Arabic schools practice known as Almajiri schools and the presence of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) aid human trafficking in the state.
Samanja said this on Tuesday while speaking with newsmen at the 26th National Stakeholders Consultative Forum (NSCF) on Human Trafficking in Abuja.
The commissioner said that the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) present in the state also served as contributing factor in making the traffickers to find their way.
According to him, Yobe State is bordering Niger Republic and that there is high tendency of taking people from Nigeria to Niger and most of these African Middle East countries for human trafficking.
“Yobe State is also used as entry point to Niger, Libia border, Morocco, and eventually to Spain in Europe, that makes the state a vulnerable state.
“We have a lot of challenges because of this, our almajiri system is seriously being abuse, and in that process a lot of unfortunate incidences happen as a result of welfare, protection of these children.
“These children are exploited for domestic work and this is most unfortunate and that is not the purpose for which the Almajiri system was set up, the purpose was to make them learn but apparently it appears to be abuse.
“Also, we are one of the states that is being ravage by insurgency, that creates another serious problem.
“We have a lot of people that are internally displaced and this creates a conducive atmosphere for traffickers, couple with the level of poverty which has aggravated the situation,” he said.
The commissioner said that in spite of all these challenges, the state taskforce against human trafficking which was inaugurated in October 2023 was doing its best.
According to him, the state taskforce is doing all it can to carry out all the mandate in the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Act 2015, and is vigorously following up all the plan set out for 2024.
Samanja said that the taskforce was brazing up to overcome all these challenges, adding that it was collaborating with all the security agencies in the state.
According to him, security agencies have made some sizeable arrests on human trafficking issues.
According to him, after investigation, prosecution will commence very soon with those the security agencies have arrested especially those of them that are due for prosecutions.
In his remarks, Mr Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi,
the Edo State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, said that cases of trafficking of the youth had reduced drastically in the state.
He said that the state taskforce was working to address some of the root causes of trafficking, adding that this led to the return of some of those who were trafficked out of the country.
Mr Labaran Shuaibu-Magaji, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Nasarawa State, disclosed the method the state was using to curb human trafficking in the state.
He stated that Gov. Abdullahi Sule was focusing on agriculture to make the youths gainfully employed.
According to him, over 2000 youths have been gainfully employed as a result of measure put in place to discourage human trafficking. (NAN)
By Aderogba George
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