The Menace of Child Trafficking and Abuse in Nigeria
CHAPTER ONE
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The objectives of the study are;
- To enumerate the various types of child trafficking in Nigeria
- To examine the effects of child trafficking in Nigeria
- To examine the causes of child trafficking
- To proffer solution to the effects and causes of child trafficking
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
DEFINITION OF A CHILD
The word “Child” has been defined specifically in both the local and international instruments dealing with the rights and welfare of the child. In Nigeria, there are different types of definition given to a child depending on which law and for what purpose. A child is statutorily defined as a person under the age of 14 years, while a young person is a child under the age of 17 years but who has attained the age of 14.4 This age ceiling in Nigerian law is lower than the age standard in the relevant international instruments. A child under International Instrument is every human being below the age of 18 years.5 The problem with age-based definitions is that they are always arbitrary and indeed risk the possibility of being rendered obsolete by modern perceptions, and findings on children in a very recent study has shown where traffickers lie about the age of trafficked victims to beat security agencies. Other definitions include:
(a) A child under seven (7) years is not criminally responsible for an act or omission; however, there is a rebuttable presumption that under twelve (12) years cannot commit a crime.
(b) Juvenile Justice: The Children and Young person’s Law differentiates between the child and young person. It is below 14 years for the former, while the latter is not to exceed 17 years.8 (c) Voting Rights: The age is fixed at 18 years.
(d) Marriageable age: This depends on the type of marriage being contracted e.g. under the Matrimonial Cause Act 1970;10As at common law is 16 years; under the Customary and Islamic law, it varies from place to place.
(e) Right to acquire land: the minimum age is 18 years.
(f) Contractual age: The Infant Reliefs Act 187413 and Infant Reliefs law defines infant as any person below the age of 21 years.
(g) Right to be member of Limited Liability Company: If the members are not more than two it is fixed at 18 years.
Be that as it may, the Child Right Act defines a child as a person under the age of eighteen (18) years. And age of majority means the age at which a person attains the age of eighteen. For all intents and purposes therefore, a child as envisaged in this article is simply refers to a person who is below the age of 18 years
CHILD TRAFFICKING
Trafficking encompasses the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. At a minimum, exploitation implies the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to the menace of child trafficking and abuse in Nigeria
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, things the researcher is interested in getting information on the menace of child trafficking and abuse in Nigeria. 200 residents in Nnewi local government of Anambra state was selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
DATA ANALYSIS
The data collected from the respondents were analyzed in tabular form with simple percentage for easy understanding.
A total of 133(one hundred and thirty three) questionnaires were distributed and 133 questionnaires were returned.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain the menace of child trafficking and abuse in Nigeria
In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of the menace of child trafficking and abuse in Nigeria
Summary
This study was on the menace of child trafficking and abuse in Nigeria. Four objectives were raised which included: To enumerate the various types of child trafficking in Nigeria, to examine the effects of child trafficking in Nigeria, to examine the causes of child trafficking in Nigeria, to proffer solution to the effects and causes of child trafficking. The total population for the study is 200 residents of Nnewi local government of Anambra state. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made up civil servants, youths, married men and married women was used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
Child trafficking has been identified as both a crime and disease which have eaten deep into the fabric of the Nigeria society with diverse consequences both on the victim and the society at large. This is despite numerous institutional and policies frame work put in place by the Nigerian government to fight the menace. The paper was able to identify that the growing rate of child tracking in Nigeria is basically not because government is lacking in its responsibilities in addressing the menace, but that these efforts were only restricted towards prosecution and rehabilitation of trafficked victims thereby neglecting to address the root causes of child trafficking. In order to effectively fight the menace of child trafficking in Nigeria, the government most extend measures put in place to fight child trafficking beyond prosecution of traffickers and rehabilitation of trafficked victims to include a concrete and practical steps toward napping the root causes of child traffics from the bud.
Recommendation
Government should declare a death penalty to anybody found trafficking. They should also make education free and compulsory.
REFERENCES
- Adedoyin MA. “Child Health in Nigeria” being a paper presented at Annual Conference of ANPPCAN at Jos, 1988.
- Anyanwu SO. The girl-child: Problems and survival in the Nigerian context. Paper Presented at The Bienna Conference of the Nigerian Association of Universities Women (NAUW), 1993.
- Ahmed Tijjani Umar. Policy framework for combating human trafficking and forced labour activities in Kano State” paper presented at a workshop organised by women development network, Kano in collaboration with the United Nations International labour Organisation and the prohibition against trafficking in west Africa (PATWA), at Daula Hotel Kano Nigeria, 2006.
- Ayo Binitie. Outcome of neurotic disorders in Africa patients Acta psychiatric scandinavica. 2007, 63(2).
- Chuang Byond. A Snapshop: Preventing Human Trafficking in the Global Economy, Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies, 2006, 13(1).
- CF Grace Osakwe, Bisi Olateru Olagbegi. A primer of trafficking in women, the Nigeria case, 1999.
- Children and Young Persons Act, Cap. 32 Laws of Nigeria and Lagos, 1958.
- Criminal Code Act Cap.38 Laws of Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2004.
- Company and Allied Matters Act, Cap 59, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 1990.
