How we secured jail terms for pastor's wife, native doctor involved in trafficking young girls– EDMA DG Agazuma
•Says Okpebholo‘s strategies made human trafficking, irregular migration unattractive in Edo Edo State, reputed as the heartbeat of the nation, was before now the hotbed of human trafficking and irregular
•Says Okpebholo's strategies made human trafficking, irregular migration unattractive in Edo
Edo State, reputed as the heartbeat of the nation, was before now the hotbed of human trafficking and irregular migration. The notoriety of the state in this respect brought it under international searchlight and concerns. But the story has since changed with the establishment of Edo State Migration Agency (EDMA) by the incumbent governor, Monday Okpebholo. The Director General of EDMA, Honorable Chief Lucky Agazuma, tells Innocent Duru how the governor's initiatives rid the state of the menace. Excerpts:
What is the state of irregular migration and human trafficking in Edo State now?
Of course, it is declining geometrically because of the several approaches the state government is bringing in. I am the pioneer director general of the migration agency, and the Edo State Government is the first to have this migration agency in Nigeria. We are still the only state having it. When we started, the governor of Edo State, Senator Monday Okpebholo, brought his strategies for us to run the agency and we followed up.
What follows? People started giving us awards as the rate at which the irregular migration was going on before started going down just like the law of diminishing return. It has reduced drastically.
What was the situation like before you came on board?
It was endemic not just in the area of international trafficking, but also within the metropolis. People coming in from other states to commit all forms of atrocities on human trafficking. But when we emerged, the first thing we did was to carry out strategic feasibility studies. We carried out raids on the streets and discovered that in every 200 girls standing on the street, for example, who were trafficked to Edo, one per cent or less was from Edo State.
So, we were able to find out that other states were actually using here as a hub to actualise their aims. People were trafficking people. Most of them said that they never knew it was a crime. When we came in, we invested massively in advocacy. Then we created several models. One of the models we used in addressing irregular migration was the SQ model where, if you see a crime relating to human trafficking, see it, say it and it is sorted. Of course, that has been helping so well.
When you say you invested in advocacy, could you just explain a little bit?
Yes, with the aid of AI, we use this AI to teach people that it is dangerous to be trafficked in irregular way. Then during the yuletide, Christmas period, we equally let them know that some diasporans are the traffickers. They come to town to spend the money they gathered in one year in one week.
In other words, they will be spending the money they don't have to buy what they don't want and to impress those they don't like. So, we did an enlightenment programme. We created migration clubs around the schools and worked with the NGOs. Then we made an advocacy to the brotheliers, who specialise in bringing in underage girls 13 to 14 years from other states to end up in the brothels.
As a matter of fact, most of these persons are in prison. A native doctor that was giving them oath to swear is cooling off in prison. The same with a pastor's wife. These are part of what we have done to fight irregular migration. And of course, the method we are using is working for us. I can buttress that with the fact that before now, Edo State had always taken the lead in irregular migration. Now, we have dropped from that list. Kano and the rest have taken over.
Tell us about the clubs your agency established in schools. What brought about the idea, and what have you been able to achieve through that?
We know that the focus of many traffickers is secondary school students. We started by carrying out a catch them young programme, where the children have to know from the beginning that it is wrong to be trafficked; that if they speak to them about the irregular migration and human trafficking, they should learn to speak out.
We have had several issues where minors, including a 12-year-old girl who was a sickler, and the sister were trafficked to Libya. On the way to Libya, the migration agency was able to run to Zaria, intercepted them in Kaduna and subsequently returned them to Edo. So, that helps through the clubs we set up in school because we reach out to students. If they see that their colleagues are not in school and nowhere to be found, they should reach out to us as part of the rules and regulations of the club. With that, we are able to know what is going on.
Then also through the advocacy, we made an advocacy from here to all the African countries. For migrants who are stranded in the Mediterranean Sea and other sub-Saharan regions, what we did was to set up a whatsapp group. We have coordinators around the African countries. When they see a case like this, they report to us.
For example, there was a case of one boy from Edo north who was trafficked from here to an African country. He died along the line because he was trying to use the trunk of a car to cross. He got hit and he died inside the truck. Instead of his friends coming back home to inform the family, they started lying that the guy was in prison. They were using that as a method to extort the families until we brought that to the attention of the family. They told us they were still gathering money to send to these friends to release him from the prison. We were able to do it because of the advocacy we have been carrying out.
Tell us how you have been bringing people back from different parts of Africa and other parts of the world.
When it comes to bringing people back, that has been the governor's mandate. During the electioneering campaign, I campaigned with the governor. What he promised he would do is what he's doing today as part of his practical governance. Whenever he hears that Edo people are stranded, he will send us to go and rescue them.
We have a good relationship with almost all the Nigerian embassies in these African countries. So, when they have issues that require emergency attention, they reach out to us, and immediately, the governor mobilises us for a rescue mission.
We have gone to so many and we still intend to go for more this year.
What is the fate of those who have been assisted to return? Have you been giving them any form of empowerment?
So many. That falls under our RQ method. We readmit them when their family rejects them. We rehabilitate them when their family is irritated. Then we reintegrate them when their family's are ungrateful for their return.
We have a school for those who want to go back to school. The catering, tailoring, barbing centres among others are there. Any category that you want to do, we help you. We train you after that, we set you up.
Many government organisations do have financial challenges in doing their work. Do you face a similar challenge?
You were in the meeting a while ago where some persons from other states were complaining. To be honest, the government of Edo State is trying.
If you look at it, by next week, Lagos and Kano state governments will be coming to Edo to learn from us. If we were lacking funds, I don't believe we would be able to take the lead in migration in Nigeria. When it comes to the area of irregular migration, Kano is now taking the lead. If there was no money, there is no way we would have been able to execute all we have done.
Of course, the government of Edo State is giving us access to funding to enable us carry out strategy work, because the main problem of Edo before now had always been the issue of irregular migration and human trafficking. it is dropping drastically now because the government of Edo State is investing massively in the migration sector, providing all the necessary apparatus to enable us to carry out our work strategically.
There are some hotspots in Edo State, Benin in particular. Do you raid those areas?
Of course, we know the hotspots. For example, the Ihama in Benin, that is the headquarters. We have Agip, sub-headquarters. We have Uromi in Esanland, among others. I don't think I need to talk much about that. You just go and ask them, because we believe in practical governance.
We don't fight irregular migration on power points. We fight it in the fields. We raid those spots and rescue the victims.
Combating irregular migration is not an easy thing as human traffickers are hard to deal with. What challenges do you get from them?
Traffickers right now are using technologies.
For example, there is one platform (QNET) they used in trafficking 24 persons to Edo State from other countries. Under the S-Cube model that we developed in the state, that when they hear a crime relating to human trafficking they should say it, some good persons reached out to us and we were able to rescue them. I think we are doing so well in Edo State when it comes to managing migration and migration governance.
You have so many transport companies that also aid irregular migration. What do you do about them?
When Governor Okpebholo appointed me as the director general of the migration agency, my team and I embarked on a trip to Ghana to understudy their migration trend. We went straight to the office of the Inspector General of Police in Ghana. We discussed extensively and he told us a few areas we can improve on.
We first of all asked them how these persons come here, and they told us it was through transport. So, for the transport sector in Edo State, we are placing strategic surveillance on all the transport companies running in the regional countries.
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The Ghanaian authorities equally told us most persons specialise in boycotting the checkpoints on the route to Ghana by going to Yaba, using their boat or ship. So we were able to weigh in in that area and carried out advocacy to transport companies in Edo, warning that if they are involved in such, in line with our law, we have the power to confiscate their property, sell the properties, pay the proceeds into our trust fund and use the proceeds to rehabilitate and reintegrate the trafficked victims. And of course, they have been working with us closely.
Have you made any arrests since you came on board? And if yes, what is the prosecution like?
So many of them are in prisons. For example, I started with a native doctor who specialised in body part harvesting- I mean the exoskeleton; the hoof, nails, pubic hair, etc. When they traffic children, or maybe they want to use children for sextortion, he specialised in making them take oaths not to speak up. So when we had one that finally spoke to us, we quickly leveraged that to arrest the native doctor. As I speak to you, he is chilling in Oko prison. We equally had a case of a pastor's wife, whose member went to complain that her husband was not doing so well. Instead of the pastor's wife advising the woman or finding a way to support her, she helped in trafficking the member's wife to Libya. As I speak to you, that pastor's wife is also chilling in Oko Prison.
There is a case of one who trafficked a 14-year-old girl from Edo State to Burkina Faso. We rescued that person, and the trafficker is chilling in the prison now.
I had over 35 cases last year. Most of them are in prison and the rest are still under investigation. A few are on the run, but they can only run, they cannot hide forever.
What is your message to human traffickers who have failed to heed your warnings?
My message to those persons in Edo who are taking us for granted is that we have a very strong law and that law permits us to sell your house. When you lose your house, you know what that means. So, if you are trafficking anybody out of Edo State, we have the power to confiscate your property, send you out of your house, seal the house, sell the house, pay the proceeds into our trust fund, use the proceeds to rehabilitate and reintegrate the returning migrants back to the society.
And also know that, myself speaking, I'm a Nigerian in diaspora. The Diasporans and those living in neighbouring countries can come in here through the traffickers to spend the money they gathered in one year in two weeks. In other words, they will be spending the money they don't have to buy what they don't want and to impress those they don't like, only for them to go back to their country and start afresh.
So, we must learn to be very careful to avoid being trafficked. The brotheliers also need to learn that we have the right to seal their brothels and sell them if they are involved with minors in their brothels. They should also know that trafficking minors, when it gets to the court of law, it will now be a case between you and the government.
