World Day Against Human Trafficking: Coalition warns traffickers to keep off Ebonyi 

The Ebonyi coalition of agencies and civil society organisations, under the aegis of Ebonyi State Anti-human Trafficking Stakeholders, have vowed to fight traffickers to a standstill in the state.

 

They strengthened their commitment to work towards changing the narratives and delisting Ebonyi among States with high prevalence of child Trafficking.

 

The resolve was part of outcome of a one-day public sensitisation campaign organised by the group in commemoration of the 2025 World Day Against Trafficking in Persons.

 

The event took place Wednesday, 30th July, 2025 at Ahia Ohuru, a community market and motor park in a suburb of Abakaliki, the Ebonyi state capital.

 

The group comprised of the National Agency for the Prohobition of Trafficking in Person (NAPTIP), the Civil Society Organisation Network on Migration and Development (CSOnetMED), the Ebonyi State Gender-based Violence Taskforce, Network Against Child Trafficking Abuse and Labour (NACTAL), Ebony state chapter; the Nigeria Conference of Women Religion Against Human Trafficking, the Pan -African Catholic Theology and Pastoral Network (PACTPAN) and Gracefield Deveopment Initiative of Nigeria (GDIN), among others.

 

Spokespersons of the groups who took turns to highlight the negative effects of human trafficking on victims, including emotional and psychological trauma, child labour and abuse, negative health outcomes and death, also educated the public on the strategies of traffickers, including fake promises of jobs and better life for victims, financial inducements and other subtle enticements.

 

The State Coordinator of CSOnetMed, Goodness Mgbaja, speaking to newsmen, described human Trafficking as an organised crime constantly evolving in strategies.

 

She regretted that the incidence of human trafficking is statistically underreported in Ebonyi state in particular, and Nigeria in general, but expressed hope with the collaborative efforts of stakeholders, including the law enforcement agencies in attacking the menace in the state.

 

She identified poverty, ignorance and insecurity as some driving forces of human trafficking, and urged government at all levels to pursue policies that would sustainably improve the citizens’ welfare and livelihood beyond intermittent handouts.

 

She added: “Where there are Warning signs of communal crises, government should be proactive because people are rendered vulnerable in such communities where crisis erupt.

 

Traffickers leverage on the loopholes of vulnerability to lure their victims.”

 

In her submission, the NACTAL State Coordinator, Lorieth Nwafor, observed that there are high incidence of various forms of trafficking going on unidentified in rural communities across the country and urged parents and community leaders to increase vigilance, adding: “grassroots efforts can address the root causes of trafficking, build resilience and prevention.”

 

Speaking on the theme of the year’s commemoration: “Human Trafficking is Organised Crime – End the Exploitation”, Nwafor described it as apt, stressing that Trafficking in humans is crime against God and humanity, requiring committed, multi-sectorial approach to combat.

 

In her remarks, the NAPTIP official who led other NAPTIP personnel of the State command to the event, Mrs Anne Nwabugwu, said the Agency has continued to review and redirect its strategies to contain the ever- evolving complexities of the crime, assuring that the agency remains unrelenting in its efforts to end the practice in the state.

 

Other partner representatives who spoke, including Reverend Sister Georgina Pemi of PACTPAN and Sister Susan Ezeh of the Nigeria Conference of Women Religion Against Human Trafficking, said they would continue to be actively involved in raising awareness against human trafficking and other rights violation.

 

Ezeh said: “some people are ignorant of this practice, so we go to church, schools , market places and home cell to sensitize them.

 

Pemi, a member of the Trinitarian Missionary of Merciful Love Congregation of the Nuns, said her organisation, PACTPAN, grooms little children to be actively engaged in the campaign against human Trafficking because it would go a long way in sustaining the fight.

 

She warned traffickers to keep away from the State, stressing that Ebonyi was no longer a place to trade for househelps and domestic servants.

 

“We have come out today to tell Ebonyi people to join hands to fight human Trafficking.

 

“We are saying no to the act because it destroys the society.

 

“And we want to tell traffickers that Ebonyi State is no longer a place to get children for trafficking, slavery and domestic helps.

 

“We have come to say no to human Trafficking, no to anything that militate against human rights” she warned.

 

The event featured the involvement of various law enforcement agencies, other key stakeholders and children bearing placards with various inscriptions such as ” we are saying no to human trafficking, children are not for sale, I am not a commodity for sale among others.

 

World Day Against Trafficking in Persons is observed 30th July of every year.