/ 17 October 2001

OBASANJO MOVES TO FIGHT HUMAN TRAFFICKING

NIGERIAN President Olusegun Obasanjo has set up a committee on human trafficking tasked with repatriating Nigerian victims of the illegal business. The six-man committee, headed by deputy justice minister Musa Elayo Abdulahi, will also ensure the prosecution of all suspected and arrested human traffickers, Mike Mku told a Senate public hearing on child slavery and human trafficking. The body will also rehabilitate and reintegrate the victims into the society, said Mku. The human trafficking situation in Nigeria ”has assumed a serious and embarrassing dimension,” Mku said. A foundation set up to fight the trafficking of women and child labour marked its second anniversary last week. The foundation, a non-governmental organisation, is headed by the vice president’s wife, Titi Abubakar. Abubakar said that more than 3 000 Nigerian women trafficked abroad have been deported from their countries of arrival in the past three years. – Sapa