BY PHILIP NWOSU
The Religious Sisters of Charity, a Roman Catholic religious institute founded by Mary Aikenhead, has called on the Federal Government to institute strong punishment for those ‘who buy sex and encourage child trafficking, ’ as a way of discouraging child trafficking and illicit sex in the country.
Speaking at a seminar to mark the 2020 Human Trafficking day, a member of the organisation Reverend Sister Gloria Ozuluoke said government should make a law to criminalize those who buy sex, explaining that if there is no buyer there won’t be sellers.
He said: “If there is no buyer there won’t be sellers, other than criminalizing the victims and leaving the culprit free, government should make a law to also punish the buyers, because in that way the crime would be completely eliminated.”
She said the various cases of human trafficking in Nigeria is against human dignity and destroys the moral of Nigerians, lamenting that despite the ongoing awareness and sensitization campaigns, human trafficking is still on the increase.
She said that the Religious Sisters of Charity will continue to network and collaborate with other agencies in the campaign against human trafficking both in the rural areas and the urban areas.
Earlier in lecture organized to create awareness which was held at the St Joseph Catholic Church, KiriKiri Town, Rev. Sister Gloria Ozuluoke listed what drives human trafficking to include, illegal migration, poverty, economic and political instability and lack of social support.
She also called on Embassies and High Commissions in Nigeria to check their staff, adding that some embassy officials are engaged in this illegal trade of persons and transportation of underage persons for work outside the country.
The lecture was part of activities to mark the world day on trafficking of humans and the Religious Sisters of Charity had been in the forefront of the campaign against this vice.
Reverend Sister Justina Nelson who had been in the fore front of the campaign had taken the awareness campaign to the Correctional Service Centres in Lagos.
The awareness and campaign targets both the staff and female students to equip them with information regarding human trafficking to avoid falling victim after their release.
Some of the female students are victims of human trafficking while a few of them are convicted traffickers. Sr. Justina also in the past had sessions with Training College Students and their staff. These activities were carried out in collaboration with NAPTIP.
Recently, the awareness programme was demonstrated in Kirikiri market in Lagos and was targeted to the traders at the market and it was done on the market environmental sanitation day. The awareness was also taken to the Churches and the Schools including St. Anne’s Centre for Women and Youth Development in Satellite Town Lagos.