{News} 80% of Nigerian girls in Italy for sex trafficking purposes — Catholic Archbishop.
Catholic Archbishop of Jos and President of the Episcopal Conference
of Nigeria, His Exc. Mgr. Ignatius Ayau Kaigama, has said that “80% of
Nigerian girls who arrive Italy, do so for sex trafficking purposes.”
According to Agenzia Fides in its publication, Archbishop Kaigama
stated this in his speech at the International Conference against human
trafficking in Africa, which ended on Wednesday, in Abuja.
In the conference said to be organised by Caritas in collaboration
with Christian Organisations Against Trafficking in Persons Network
(COATNET), Archbishop Kaigama was quoted as saying: “In Africa alone
hundreds of thousands of persons are trafficked annually. A whopping 79%
of the total number are sexually exploited, the victims being mostly
women; 21% of those trafficked are for forced labour, the majority being
males.
“A disturbing fact is that in parts of West Africa the majority of
those trafficked are children below the age of 18. This conference must
find ways of ending child labour in all its forms”, said the Archbishop.
The President of the Episcopal Conference of Nigeria also appealed to
the Nigerian government “to look at the issue of trafficking in persons
as a national disgrace and take urgent and lasting steps to deal with
the root causes. This is especially in light of the fact that recent
reports claim that 80% of Nigerian girls who arrive Italy, do so for sex
trafficking purposes.”
Mgr. Kaigama recalled that Nigeria established the National Agency
for Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and other Related Matters (NAPTIP)
and that late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua had initiated a policy to
assist victims of sexual exploitation and human trafficking.
“These efforts, taken together with those of other Agencies both
private and public, are indicative of seriousness on the part of
government. But in the light of current realities government must show
that NAPTIP is not one of those agencies that make up the number”, said
the Archbishop, who concluded asking the government to allocate more
resources to address the problem.
Source: Tribuneonline
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