The evil of trafficking unsuspecting young people, especially young girls being trafficked across Africa and European countries for prostitution, (those that will be lucky to tell the story), and for organ harvesting, keeps rearing its ugly head unrestrained. This kind of hustle (as they would call it in local parlance), which is shameful, and crime against God and man, unfortunately, is perpetrated either by siblings, family members and those considered very close to the victim. Very despicable also, is that some parents encourage their young daughters to embark on this life-threatening mission, all in the name of making money and probably, buy and build big mansions, back home.
Granted that, the story of this atrocious and despicable trade is not new in Nigeria, but the gory tale of three sisters who were lured and trafficked to Ghana by a close relative, calls for concern for both the government, and parents in particular. Prior to this time, stories of how young Nigerians were murdered abroad and their organs harvested, abound. This was because the victims and their families that gave them out to the so called ”big aunties and uncles” did not ask the right questions, before entrusting their children and wards to these mindless people. Perhaps, time has also come for Nigerian parents to understand that normal families cannot send their young girls to go into prostitution or to travel from the known to the unknown, which has been the case for several years, for both the girl and boy child. There is nowhere in the world that life is easy.
Those that resort to making money with their bodies obviously are postponing the evil day. Certainly, there must be consequences for every wrong step taken. On the other hand, the government should begin now to intensify efforts in addition to what it is doing currently to stem the tide of young people’s indiscriminate migration to other countries in search of the proverbial golden fleece! Trafficking the Nigerian girl child abroad for baby making, at this time of our national development should be fought with vigour by the institutions of government concerned. We want to see a sharp drop in the numbers, even though statistics of those already trafficked have not been made public.
We want to encourage all agencies of government, non-governmental organisations, including the Churches, to come up with messages of hope, essentially targeted at the Nigerian youths, especially at this time of economic recession to reassure them, there is still hope and cause to believe in Nigeria, despite all the challenges the country is being confronted with. The Nigerian girl child must not be used as guinea pig like the case of those three sisters who, unfortunately, were misguided. It’s an illusion to think that dollars and pounds are flowing on the streets of other countries, apart from Nigeria. The case of these three sisters must be investigated while we admonish our young ladies to learn from their fate, and parents too to be circumspect!
