Wildlife officials in Abuja Nigeria on Tuesday destroyed 2.5 tons of elephant tusks valued at 11.2 million dollars. Officials say the powder will be used to create a monument symbolizing the importance of elephants in the ecosystem.
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Virtually all states in Nigeria face high human trafficking and no fewer than 25,000 Nigerian women and girls are trapped in the mining areas of Mali, where they are sexually exploited
This was revealed by experts at a three-day media training workshop on “Countering Trafficking In Persons, (CTIP),” organised by Network Against Child Trafficking, Abuse and Child Labour (NACTAL) in collaboration with USAID for journalists from Cross River and seven other states of the federation and Abuja.
Held in Benin, Edo State, the workshop ended on Wednesday.
National President of NACTAL, Abdulganiyu Abubakar, in his remarks at the workshop, said as result of the situation, some countries discriminate against Nigeria when they travel out.
He charged the media to embark on campaigns to tackle issues of trafficking.
Similarly, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) confirmed the high level trafficking of humans in the country, revealing that it has, till date, rescued 17, 753 victims in the country.
The Zonal Commander of NAPTIP, Benin Zonal Command, Mr. Nduka Nwanwanne, stated that out of the figure, 13,626 are female, while 4,727 are males.
He said: “No fewer than 25,000 Nigerian women and girls are trapped living in shanties in the mining areas in Mali, where they are sexually exploited.”
According to her, prostitution is not human trafficking but the exploitation in prostitution is human trafficking. He described Nigeria as transit and destination on human trafficking, saying it is endemic in Edo and Delta states and all parts of the country.
Human trafficking, according to him, is worth 150 billion dollars in global criminal enterprise and it is the second largest in trans national organised crime after drug trafficking.
One of NACTAL’s resource persons, Nasiru Muazu Isa, said trafficking on humans is huge business and is so sophisticated to the extent that they track their victims with electronic gadgets to know where they are and where they go to.
The Project Manager, NACTAL, Mr. Samuel Olayemi, listed the objectives of the workshop to include: increasing knowledge of media practitioners on CTIP, intensifying media campaigns, strengthening capacity of media practitioners and improving knowledge of participants in developing relevant programmes.
By Anietie Akpan, The Guardian
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Nigerian officials have seized thousands of donkey penises that were about to be exported to Hong Kong, an official said on Thursday.
Sacks of the donkey male genitals were seized at the international airport in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, Sambo Dangaladima, the Nigeria Customs Service area commander, told reporters.
The consignment was “falsely declared … as cow male genitals (but) after due examination, my export officers discovered they were donkey male genitals,” said Dangaladima. A total of 16 sacks of the genitals were seized, he said.
An investigation has been launched to find out more information about the seized items, the customs service said.
Although the seizure of donkey genitals meant for export from Nigeria is rare, donkey skins are known to be frequently exported or smuggled out of the country. In July, the Nigerian customs seized $116,000 worth of donkey skins being smuggled into the country from neighboring Niger.
Nigeria is trying to curb the export of donkey skins which has drastically diminished the country’s population of the work animals, particularly in the north. Nigerian senators in 2021 proposed to ban the killing of donkeys and the export of their skins.
The lawmakers said such a ban on killing donkeys would further curb the export of donkey skins and genitals — which Nigeria prohibits — to countries like China where the skins are used in popular traditional medicines. That proposed legislation has not yet been passed into law.
“The major beneficiary in this trade is the donkey (skin) merchants in China,” Muhammad Datti, one of the federal lawmakers supporting the proposed ban, has said. “This animal is facing extinction (in Nigeria) and it is an animal you cannot breed in large numbers because of the very low rate of fertility.”
By Chinedu Asadu
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At least 26 persons including 19 children have been rescued from trafficking during a law enforcement operation in Nigeria’s southern state of Edo, authorities said on Tuesday.
In a statement, Kontongs Bello, a police spokesperson in Edo, said the victims comprise 19 children, one teenager and six women who were trafficked from the southeast states of Ebonyi, Imo, Abia, Anambra and Akwa Ibom.
He said they were heading toward Evbuotubu in Ekenwan road axis of Benin city before rescue came their way.
According to the police spokesman, the women were lured from their various home states by a woman named “Jennifer”, noting that the suspect is now on the run.
“They were lured in a guise that Edo state government is giving financial support to single mothers with newborn babies especially twins,” he said.
“The women said they were forced to go for street begging for their mistress Jennifer. They further stated that only peanut is given to them to take care of their children,” he said.
By David Ochieng Mbewa
Related story: New Nollywood film shines a light on human trafficking in Nigeria
Coronavirus link?
China removed pangolin body parts from its official list of traditional medicines in June and raised the animal’s protected status to the country’s highest level due to its dwindling numbers.
Pangolin scales are traditionally used in China for a range of illnesses, including treating blood clots and aiding lactation.
But there is no scientific evidence that they have any medicinal value.
There are some studies that also suggest that the scally creature may have been the intermediate host that transmitted the coronavirus to humans when it first emerged at a market in the Chinese city of Wuhan in 2019.
China has since banned the sale of wild animals for food in such markets.
China has cracked down on animal smuggling. In December, the country said it jailed a network accused of running its biggest-ever ivory smuggling ring, which moved elephant tusks worth millions of dollars from West Africa into the mainland’s vast domestic market.
Clad soberly in a checkered knee-length dress, Tobore Ovuorie hardly seems as if she once walked the streets of Lagos in a revealing outfit and high heels.
A freelance reporter with a burning desire to uncover the truth about a sordid backstreet trade, Ovuorie dressed as streetwalker to infiltrate a prostitution ring.
She took on the dangerous mission after a friend left for Europe, became a sex worker and died, leaving Ovuorie shocked and beset with questions.
Today, Ovuorie's remarkable story has been turned into a hit Netflix film, Oloture, which has shone a bright light on one of Nigeria's darkest trades.
"I needed to do justice, to know the truth. I wanted to know the process, the back story about these ladies," the 39-year-old reporter told AFP.
By dressing up, she sought to gain the prostitutes' trust - the first step to introducing her to a "madam," a pimp.
After eight months working undercover in 2013, Tobore Ovuorie emerged with a terrifying account about the victims of sex trafficking.
Some were sent to Europe, where they were coerced into becoming sex workers. Others were forced to participate in orgies organized by local politicians. Some became victims of organ trafficking for ritual crimes.
She published her story in 2014 in the Nigerian newspaper Premium Times and Dutch investigative magazine, Zam Chronicles, inspiring a production company in Nigeria to adapt it for the screen.
Released in October on Netflix, the story has been widely watched and applauded in its home country, Africa's most populous market.
"Sometimes investigative journalists in search of the story become the story," director Kenneth Gyang told AFP.
But in this case, the reporter was also "the torch that led us into the lives" of victims, he said.
Disillusion
Sex trafficking is rife in Nigeria, in particular in southern Benin City, a recruiting ground for criminal gangs who smuggle women to Europe.
How many are trafficked is unknown but in Italy, authorities say that between 10,000 and 30,000 Nigerians are prostitutes.
Several thousand others are stuck in Libya or other African countries, often exploited by criminals who make them believe they will one day reach Europe.
In the film, a journalist named Oloture, playing the part of Ovuorie during her investigation, heads to neighboring Benin with a dozen other girls.
From there, their "madam" promises they will depart to Europe in exchange for money (up to $85,000) that they will have to repay once they arrive in Italy.
Very quickly, the journey turns sour.
Instead of heading to the country's border, their minibus stops in a gloomy training camp on the outskirts of Lagos.
There, the girls are roughed up and divided into two groups: "street" prostitutes and "special" prostitutes reserved for wealthier clients.
On screen, the most gripping character is Linda, a young uneducated woman from a poor rural background, who becomes friends with Oloture.
Linda "represents many of those young ladies and how they get in disillusion" said Ovuorie, who came across such a character during her investigation.
For the director, it is exciting that the film is a success in Nigeria.
"We have to see how to make this film available in remote places for young vulnerable women who might be susceptible to be trafficked to Europe," said Gyang.
Emotional toll
On social media, the movie - and its ending - have triggered passionate debate.
"For most of these ladies there is never any light at the end of the tunnel," said Gyang, "so why would you try to make a film that would end on a happy note?"
Ovuorie said that what she saw and experienced during her investigation still haunts her - she is trying to find the women she was meant to go to Europe with, and tell their stories.
Her work has inflicted a heavy emotional cost, she said.
"I'm a shadow of myself, I try to smile, to look bright, but most of the time it's been just me fighting to hold onto life."
Related story: New Nollywood film shines a light on human trafficking in Nigeria
Video - Nigerian women trafficked to Europe for prostitution at 'crisis level'
