NIGERIA:THE PROBLEM.

1. The problem

Despite massive oil reserves and recent plans for rapid socio-economic development5, about 60% of the Nigerian population lives at, or below the poverty line with the average income at US$1 per day.6 This widespread poverty, rabid urbanization, exponential population growth coupled with the lack of enforcement of legal instruments and high levels of crime and corruption increases the vulnerability of Nigerians – particularly children – to various forms of modern slavery, both within and outside the borders of Nigeria.7 Child labour is also an issue, where high levels of poverty and unemployment means children are more likely to be forced to work to outside their family network to support themselves and their family.

The majority of enslaved Nigerians are subjected to forced labour and sexual exploitation within the country, throughout Africa and overseas in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. There is a connection between people recruited in rural areas and vulnerability to modern slavery, as women and children from these areas often do not have access to accurate information regarding the position for which they are applying. Often, once they arrive at their new job, they are subjected to domestic servitude and sexual exploitation, particularly in neighbouring regions of Africa. 9 A large number of children in particular are exploited in this manner. 10
Nigerian women and girls represent a large proportion of women enslaved in Europe for commercial sexual exploitation, with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) estimating that in Italy alone, between 10,000 and 12,000 Nigerian women have been enslaved in the sex industry.11 In addition to sexual exploitation, many Nigerians – particularly men and boys – are in forced labour and exploited in street vending, domestic service, mining, stone quarrying, agriculture or begging. 12
Nigeria has high numbers of child labourers, with an estimated 47% of children aged 4- 15 in child labour.13 Nigeria has been highlighted in the 2010 Child Labour Index as being one of 68 countries of ‘extreme risk’ of the most widespread abuse of child workers, with a ranking of eighth on the Index.14 Children take part in many different forms of labour, including mining (particularly for solid minerals like coal, cassiterite, kaolin, gypsum, columbite, gold, gemstones, barites, graphite, marble and tantalite) and stone quarrying, domestic service and cocoa harvesting.15 Children are also vulnerable to domestic servitude through the traditional practice of child-fosterage. Evidence suggests that families in rural areas send their children to work as domestic helpers in homes of wealthier families in cities, in exchange for board and education. In recent times, traffickers (“agents”) have taken advantage of this practice to recruit children and “farm” them to employers for wages that are meant for the children, and remit a small percentage of the wages either to the parents or teenagers among them.16 Many of these children are physically, mentally and sexually abused and denied access to any education. 17

Notable aspects of the problem

The civilian population of Nigeria continue to be terrorised by radical Islamist militant group Boko Haram. This group has been active in Nigeria since 2009 and continue to carry out extreme acts of terror in opposition to the perceived ‘westernisation’ of Nigeria, in particular the westernisation of education. Women and young girls are particularly vulnerable to these acts of terror, with repeated cases of militants abducting women and children for sexual exploitation and forced marriage, and recruiting children as young as 12 years old into their armed bands. 18 In northern Nigeria, cases of forced marriages are particularly high.19
Similar to the child-fosterage system, the koranic education system promotes the sending of children by their families from rural to urban areas to live with and receive a Koranic education from Islamic teachers. 20 This has given rise to the emergence of almajiris (child beggars) exploited by their teachers to beg for alms and food.  Estimates suggest up to 10 million children are almajirais21 There have also been reports of almajirai being deliberately scarred or injured to arouse sympathy and encourage donations.22
There is also increasing recognition that children accused of witchcraft are vulnerable to modern slavery.23 A deep-rooted fear of witchcraft persists in both urban and rural Nigeria that results in significant abuse of and violence towards children stigmatized as witches in some states in Nigeria.24 Many of these stigmatized children suffer imprisonment and torture through ‘exorcism’ ceremonies; are abandoned in forests or on the streets where they are vulnerable to trafficking; or are raped and sold for purposes of sexual exploitation.25
Nigerian women are also disproportionately exposed to modern slavery and sexual exploitation. Enslaved women and girls are often forced to undergo a ‘Juju’ oath-swearing ritual – a ritual based on swearing an oath over an item of special significance – that commits them to repaying the debt attributed to their enslavement.26 Research for the IOM suggests that once women have paid off debts they were bound to by voodoo based rituals, it was not uncommon for them to recruit more women for exploitation.27
This cycle of women recruiting their peers for exploitation is particularly prevalent in commercial sex exploitation. Due to high levels of unemployment, there is widespread migration for overseas sex work, with reports indicating that some women migrating to Italy for work from Edo State have been exploited, abused and subjected to extreme violence upon their arrival.28 Often with the support of their families, these women are lured by the promise of employment and education opportunities offered by unscrupulous recruiters, who are often linked to members of international trafficking gangs.29
An emerging trend in Nigeria is the recruitment of teenage girls and young women with unwanted pregnancies by dubious medical practitioners with promises of safe abortions and later detained against their will to give birth to their babies who are then forcefully taken away and sold to interested clients. This practice has metamorphosed into “baby factories” run by trafficking rings, which promise jobs or safe abortions to pregnant teenagers and young women, and later force them to give birth and surrender their babies for paltry sums of money.   The babies are then sold to buyers for international or domestic adoption, rituals, slave labour or sexual exploitation. In some cases the girls are detained and subjected to forced sex by men specially hired to impregnate them to produce more babies. 30
Nigerian organised crime networks are one of the largest law enforcement challenges to European governments.31 The Nigeria-Holland ring was a particularly notorious gang who facilitated fake references, passports and visas for under age girls to seek asylum in Holland and then forced them into commercial sexual exploitation across Europe. 32
The Nigerian Consulate in Moscow has deported over 24O females since 2012.33A number of male victims are also trafficked from Nigeria to Europe. 34
Corruption also facilitates modern slavery. Nigeria was ranked 144 out of 177 countries and territories in terms of corruption in 2013. 35 There are suggestions that some government officials, particularly police  and immigration officials have facilitated the trafficking of some women overseas. 36

2. What is the government doing about it?

The Government of Nigeria has signed most relevant conventions relating to modern slavery, including the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention No. 182, the Palermo Protocol and the Forced Labour Convention No 29. 37 In 2003, the Trafficking in Persons (Law Enforcement and Administration) Act (TIP Act) was introduced and amended in 2005 to increase the penalties for perpetrators.38 Also in 2003, Nigeria introduced the Child Rights Act which criminalizes child trafficking.
Despite the introduction of these laws, some states still apply Sharia law that treats victims as offenders. For example, the Shari’ah Penal Code Law, 2000 of the Zamfara State defines an offender as anyone who “does any obscene or indecent act(s) in a private or public place”. Such laws that treat victims of commercial sexual exploitation as offenders, conflicts with Nigeria’s national laws and the international conventions to which they are a party.39
The National Agency for the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) is active in coordinating anti-trafficking units in both the national police force (NPF) and the immigration department. The NAPTIP is responsible for enforcing all laws prohibiting forced labour and commercial sexual exploitation. In addition, the NPF also enforces other provisions in the Nigerian Criminal and Penal Codes which are not covered in the TIP Act. 40 In 2012, the Nigerian Government allocated US$11.9 million to NAPTIP and state governments contributed approximately $15,900 in additional funds.41 In January- June 2013 reporting period, NAPTIP investigated 132 trafficking- specific cases resulting in 24 prosecutions and 30 convictions with sentences ranging from three months to seven years imprisonment.42 Despite poorly enforced legal instruments, NAPTIP initiated 117 trafficking-specific cases resulting in 17 prosecutions and 25 convictions. There have been a total of 204 traffickers convicted from NAPTIP’s inception in 2003 until the end of June 2013. 43
There have been five International Programmes on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) projects aimed at eliminating child labour in Nigeria since 2002. The most recent being a project to “Eliminate Hazardous and Exploitative Child Labour in the Cocoa Sector in selected West African Countries” which ended in 2010. 44 An evaluation of the projects suggested that the majority of objectives were met, including the development of the Child Labour Monitoring System (CLMS) to collect, collate and analyse data about children involved in, or at risk of forced labour; capacity building for officers to monitor the CLMS and the withdrawal of 1,007 children from forced labour and engagement in mainstream education system. 45 The Government continues to participate in a three year USDOL-funded regional Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Project which aims to withdraw and prevent 540 children from being trafficked from Benin to Nigeria for mining.46 In a further attempt to curb child labour, in September 2013, after a broad consultative process with labour unions, employers associations, civil society andfaith-based groups, the federal government adopted a draft policy to address child labour issues.47
The Government of Nigeria is making increased efforts to protect victims of modern slavery. By the end of 2012, the Government and NGOs had identified 480 victims within the country, including 303 victims of sex exploitation and 177 victims of forced labour. An additional 92 individuals were identified as victims of slavery-related crimes. 48 NAPTIP operates eight shelters which offer short-term care for enslaved persons for up to six weeks, offering legal, medical and psychological services as well as vocational training, trade, financial support and business management skills. 49 The NAPTIP website states that they have assisted ‘over 6,000 victims’ since commencing in 2003.50 The Federal Ministry of Women’s Affairs & Social Development operates four shelters across the country with the capacity to serve 240 children, as well as several non-residential drop-in centres in which at-risk children can access social services.51
In order to prevent the deteriorating quality of education in the almajiri system and to prevent further exploitation of children, the Federal Government has built 89 out of a planned 400 schools that will feature speciality housing for children.52 In addition, the Government is encouraging the enrolment of children into modern Tsangaya schools where they proposing a joint Koranic and Western education.53
There has been a historical lack of policy response from the government regarding witchcraft however, there are indications that the Government of Nigeria has begun to recognise the need to take action with recent meetings to discuss the issue.54 Yet, there is no specific legislation at the federal level criminalising accusation of witchcraft and no current protection for stigmatised children.55  However at the state level, some states have taken action. In Akwa Ibom State where they have high incidence of such accusations, the State Government  has enacted the Child Rights Law which penalises the stigmatization of children and accusation of witchcraft and child torture with 15 years imprisonment for offenders.56

Notable aspects of the response

The Nigerian Government works with regional neighbours via the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to promote uniform anti-trafficking legislation and improve cross-border cooperation.57In 2012, NAPTIP executed its first joint law enforcement exercise with the Government of Mali which led to the arrest of perpetrators of modern slavery and provided assistance to Nigerian victims.58 The Government also cooperates with the European Union in order to fight corruption and organised crime, which underpin modern slavery in Nigeria. 59
Victims identified by NAPTIP are eligible to receive funds from the Victims Trust Fund, which is primarily financed through confiscated assets of convicted traffickers. In 2011, the equivalent of USD 21,500 was disbursed to 45 victims to cover various costs including medical expenses and school tuition, although it was not necessarily distributed equally.60
Nigeria is also taking steps to eliminate corruption, particularly through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offenses Commission (ICPC). 61 Since the amendment of anti-trafficking legislation in 2005, the Government has been able to successfully prosecute government officials involved in trafficking. 62 Despite this, much remains to be done to ensure that the Government remains proactive in prosecuting those involved. 63

3. What needs to happen?

The Government of Nigeria should:
  • Recognise that Boko Haram is using forced marriage and sexual slavery as a weapon of fear and social control. Nigerian response to Boko Haram should be the intensification of efforts to eradicate Boko Haram and other terrorist groups;
  • Intensify efforts to pursue modern slavery investigations and prosecutions, including trafficking and forced labour;
  • Intensify current efforts at training  police and immigration officials to identify victims of modern slavery among vulnerable populations, such as young women  and children;
  • Continue to provide mandatory training to all NAPTIP shelter and government shelter counsellors and workers, specifically addressing issues of trauma unique to victims of modern slavery;
  • Develop a  data base to track the number of enslaved persons repatriated from abroad, and upon repatriation ensure they are aware of available protective services;
  • Strengthen collaboration amongst NAPTIP, other government agencies and civil society organizations addressing modern slavery issues;
  • Establish anti-vice units within relevant government agencies to monitor arrest and prosecute corrupt officials amongst their ranks; and
  • Address root causes of modern slavery such as poverty and inequality, unemployment and negative cultural practices such as traditional child fosterage, early/forced marriage, gender bias in education and access to productive resources (land, finance, training etc.).
NB: All country studies were sent to expert review prior to placing on the website. This was not, however, possible for Nigeria.
GLOBALSLAVERYINDEX.

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