HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN NIGERIA AND ITS EFFECTS ON THE NATIONAL IMAGE: A MORAL APPRAISAL

Abstract

Human trafficking is regarded as modern slavery. It ‘involves deceiving or coercing someone to move either within a country or abroad through legal or illegal channels for the purpose of exploiting him or her’. The phenomenon in recent time has generated a lot of attention among local and international community. The menace has become a lucrative criminal business and Nigeria has acquired a reputation for being one of the leading African countries in human trafficking with cross-border and internal trafficking as a country of origin, transit and of victims. The paper attempts to articulate the effects of the illicit business on Nigeria national image. The major reasons for the persistence of the ugly phenomenon of human trafficking in Nigeria include pervasive poverty, unemployment, greed etc for the purpose of forced labour, domestic servitude, sexual exploitation, and rituals. The paper also review the legislations put in place the Nigeria government to curb menace. The paper recommends that fighting human trafficking in Nigeria is all encompassing because it requires a need for synergy of efforts to create public awareness of the crime, address the poverty situation in the country, create employment for the youths, reinforce relevant national laws, organize counseling, rehabilitation and reintegration programme for the victims