Lukman Olabiyi
For many indigenes of Edo State that have experienced the horror of human trafficking, these are interesting times.
Many of these victims of human trafficking were tricked into leaving the country with offers of better lives abroad. They would later find out that their presumed benefactors had merely sold them off as slaves in foreign lands.
For years, many of these folks were stranded and left to their fate in Europe, Libya and other parts of Africa.
But these days, not a few have returned to their home state, thanks to the initiative of the governor, Godwin Obaseki who instituted a reintegration and rehabilitation programme for the returnees.
With the initiative, the Godwin Obaseki administration has been providing a lifeline for these returnees, empowering them with opportunities for a fresh beginning.
Rescue Esosa, a returnee from Libya, expressed gratitude to the government for her reintegration into the society.
Said she: “I am glad to start my life again in Nigeria after all the troubles I went through in Libya in search of greener pastures. The pain and experience I went through in trying to cross over to Italy were unbearable. I lost my friends to the desert and some at sea. I’d rather stay and invest in my country than risk my life in the hands of smugglers. I am glad to have something doing now. I am grateful to Governor Obaseki and other government officials.”
She implored other states to emulate the Edo State government’s initiatives to make life better for returnees from abroad.
In 2018, Gov Obaseki had established the Edo State Taskforce Against Human Trafficking (ETAHT), following the enactment of the Edo State Trafficking in Persons Prohibition Law. It was a process that enjoyed a partnership with the Oba of Benin Palace.
The law provides an effective and comprehensive legal and institutional framework for the prohibition, prevention, detection, prosecution and punishment of human trafficking and related offences in the state.
It was gathered that as many as 6,000 returnees have been received by the state government since 2017. The returnees were initially housed by the state government before they were reunited with their families. The government has also been making life more habitable for the returnees by incorporating them into some of its entrepreneurship and farm initiatives.
Those that have returned from Libya alone, it was learnt, are well over 5, 000. As recently as August 15, 18 indigenes of the state, made up of 17 young girls and a one-year-old male child that were stranded in Mali, were received and reintegrated with their families.
The state government went further by partnering with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to establish a pineapple factory operated by a business cooperative. The cooperative comprises returnees, unemployed youth as well as the private sector. It is part of the IOM’s integrated approach to sustainable reintegration, it was learnt.
The facility, which employed 42 Nigerian returnees and local youth, received technical and vocational training under a project funded by GIZ. “It’s the first community-based reintegration project to launch in Nigeria. And, besides the direct hires, it will benefit 250 individuals, their families, as well as farmer associations and residents of Iguobazuwa, Edo State,” the reporter was told.
But that is not the only one. A cassava factory was also launched in the town of Ehor, Edo State, which provides job opportunities for another 25 returning migrants and youth.
The factory, which indirectly benefits 150 individuals in the community, seeks to involve the returnees in income-generating activities together with their home communities with the aim of promoting inclusive local development and reducing socio-economic challenges.
Recently, another batch of returnees arrived in Benin City, the Edo State capital. While receiving them, Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Prof Yinka Omorogbe, said the returnees comprised irregular migrants and victims of human trafficking.
She said the Godwin Obaseki administration had, in the last three years and eight months, reduced illegal migration through massive investment in the education sector, as well as creating various empowerment programmes for the youths.
“We have just received 18 Malian returnees into the state. These are girls that were trafficked out of Nigeria to Mali where they were rescued. They spent some months with the High Commission in Mali before being transported back to Nigeria,” she added.
She said the state government was totally committed to the welfare and wellbeing of the returnees. In her words, the government had, over the years, ensured the rehabilitation and reintegration of the returnees by assisting them to acquire skills, provision of loans and payment of stipends for start-ups.
“Ever since we started operations in early November 2017, the Edo State Task Force Against Human Trafficking has been on ground to receive every Edo indigene brought back into the country.
“These people just returned and we have taken and stored their information in our database; they will be incorporated into our numerous programmes initiated by the Obaseki-led administration to make them independent and employable.
“As they have just arrived, we will be seeing to their needs. We will ensure that they are fully reintegrated into the society,” the commissioner added.
The commissioner, who doubles as chairman of the taskforce, said the Obaseki administration had expended N300million for the upkeep of the returnees and other logistics within the period. With the work that the government had been doing, she said, the wrong perception of Edo State by the international community had been corrected.
Mr Crusoe Osagie, Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Communication Strategy, recently gave assurances that the permanent shelters being constructed to accommodate the returnees trapped abroad as victims of human trafficking and irregular migration would strengthen the state government’s rehabilitation and reintegration programme.
Osagie noted that the shelters would support the state government’s far-reaching approach to providing support for returnees. This, he said, comprises medical screening, payment of stipends, capacity building and provision of starter-packs, reunion with families and regular monitoring and follow-ups.
To address youth migration, Professor Benson Osadolor, Dean of Students’ Affairs at the University of Benin, had also recently called for national policy intervention, youth civic engagement, and mind management for creativity.
Perhaps in furtherance of this, the Edo State government had sought the partnership of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to provide some succour to European returnees that are indigenes of the state.
It was gathered that Governor Obaseki specifically requested the NIS to provide accurate statistics of returnees to the state so as to ease government efforts to make adequate preparations for them.
And the commendations by some of the returnees had been effusive.
Frank Obeahon is a physically challenged returnee from Libya who has now established a tailoring outfit in Benin City.
He noted that since most people travel out of the country due to lack of jobs, one should not risk travelling abroad illegally if there was something one could do at home.
“The truth is that people consider travelling out because of the frustration they face in the country. If they are engaged through employment, a lot of people will jettison the idea of travelling out for greener pastures.
“Travelling through these routes is an issue of life and death and the chances of getting to the destination are 50-50. A lot of people die in the process,” he said.