The International Labour Organisation has said over half a million Nigerians are victims of forced labour.
The ILO Global Estimate of Forced Labour 2012 stated that three out of every 1,000 persons are in forced labour at any given point in time. About 21 million people worldwide are victims.
The figure for Nigeria, is based on the 167 million population estimate of the National Population Commission, but does not include Nigerians who are trafficked abroad for various forms of forced labour.
According to the report, 90 per cent of the victims are exploited by private individuals and enterprises, while 10 per cent are forced to work by the state, rebel military groups or in prisons under conditions which violate fundamental ILO standards.
It also stated that sexual exploitation accounts for 22 per cent of all victims and labour exploitation makes up 68 per cent of the total.
The spokesman of the National Agency for Prohibition of Traffic in Persons, Mr. Arinze Orakwe, however, said the agency has no data for the number of Nigerians who are victims of human trafficking and forced labour because many of such cases go unreported.
He said, “Whatever figure you get is not comprehensive. It would just be a scratch compared to the actual figure. You can go with the ILO figures but even that is an estimate. People rarely report cases of human trafficking; people don’t come out to say they trafficked somebody or to say they were trafficked. The fact is that human trafficking is a very serious issue in Nigeria that government should give more attention to.”
He, however, noted that the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the United States of America, had made it more difficult to traffic persons through the borders of European and American countries, while the recent Arab Spring in North Africa had tightened the borders of countries like Libya, Egypt and Morocco, that served as routes to Europe.
“We have been carrying out publicity and awareness campaigns. As a result, not so many people can say they are not aware of the dangers of being lured abroad to work. But the issue is that poverty has not abated in the country, so a lot of people want to go abroad; it is therefore not difficult for human traffickers to get their victims,” he said.
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