Child Traffickers, Parents Should Go To Prison, Or Hell!

By

Nasiru Musa Yauri

Smith Business School

University of Maryland, College Park

USA

nassj@hotmail.com

 

I read with absolute dismay, distaste and disbelief the recent arrest of a woman in Lagos who was caught with 56 children she has packed in a metal container with the intent of “selling them off” into slavery. Both action and intent of the woman and everyone else involved are indeed inhuman, cruel, and wicked. That she packed them into a metal container (the action) for over 24 hours on her way to “selling” them (the intent) are clear evidences of the beast in human shield. It tells of the very extent of greed and the little value that some attach to human life. As I read with my colleagues here in Maryland, I cannot hide my shame that all this is happening in my own country and in the 21st century. As we read the news clip, I quickly recall my recent attacks of the former colonial masters, especially their participation in the slave trade in the period before colonisation (see http://nasiruyauri.blogspot.com for details). I remember how persistent I was in my criticisms, and how uncomfortable I made all my colleagues by reminding them of the sins of their forefathers. Alas! Here is slave trade in my own country, on our own people by our own! Indeed, a shame!!

On the title of this article, I suggested a prison sentence for this criminal of a woman, and her accomplices. Or perhaps a quick gate to hell. But truly, except she is going to jail for life, I cannot think of a befitting punishment for this evil genius. Anything short of a death sentence or life imprisonment is definitely inappropriate punishment. The unimaginably excruciating and painful condition to which she has subjected those children by transporting them in a metal container shows she is so heartless she is not fit to live among humans. Death or life incarceration alone can equal up to her cruel deed and intention.

But wait! The parents of these children are definitely aware of this evil act and fully involved too. News report has it that, the children, aged between 7 and 14 were concealed in a metal cargo container, normally used for fish. Many of them were dehydrated after traveling in the container for more than 24 hours from northern Nigeria. Police believe the children were likely to be used as domestic workers in Lagos. “A woman who was arrested said she brought them with the consent of their parents to be distributed as house-helps in Lagos” police spokesman Ademola Adebayo said. (http://news.biafranigeriaworld.com/archive/bbc/2005/03/08/nigerian_police_free_children.php). 

There is no way 56 children will be missing from a community, state or region without any alarm being raised, except with the complicity of their parents or “guardians”. If all children were “carted away” from Niger State as the trafficker claimed, then the government of Niger must not allow such children to return to those unworthy parents or even community. For there is no how such number of children will disappear from a community, without any of their families raising alarm. The only explanation, of course, is complicity. Such are indeed unworthy parents who knowingly send their children into slavery, servitude, domestic work or whatever it might be called.

The fact that 54 of the children who are the subject of this trafficking are females is a stark indication of the gruesome violence against, and abuse of the female gender. Undoubtedly, a good number of these female children will become exposed not only to slavery but also sexual exploitation and violence. Those who eventually manage to escape from their “lords” are most likely to end up as prostitutes on the streets of Lagos.

I refuse to concede that poverty explains the actions or inactions of these parents. Sending your own child into slavery, sexual exploitation and prostitution goes beyond poverty; it portrays an unquantifiable amount of greed and heartlessness. Probably, some of them have for long been in the business of “producing” human commodities for sale. This fact is evidenced by the woman’s confession that she has participated in the “slave trade” for more than 30 years.

Indeed, there is every need for a thorough investigation of these dark recesses of human existence. The government must let Nigerians and indeed the entire world see, how squarely it has dealt with the architects of this monstrous behaviour. There is no way a society like Nigeria with a high presence of people of faith (both Muslims and Christians) can condone such atrocity against the child, and humanity. Not until something drastic is done as punishment on this woman and her accomplices including the parents of these children, can we lay claim on faith or even democracy. For both faith and democracy are protective of the rights of people, in this case especially the rights of the weak, children.