Ekiti State Government has assured that it would take the sensitization campaign on the implications of trafficking in persons and child labour to all the nooks and crannies of the state to protect the future of the children and ensure that the menace do not raise its ugly trend in the state.
According to a press statement issued in Ado Ekiti on Friday by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr Idowu Adelusi, Governor Peter Ayodele Fayose gave the assurance in Ado Ekiti on Friday while declaring open a one-day sensitization campaign on “The implications
of Trafficking in persons and child Labour on Sub-Regional Integration and Human security”.organized by the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Governor who was represented at the occasion by the Deputy Governor, Dr. Kolapo Olusola, described human trafficking as “the
illegal movement of people, typically for the purposes of forced labour or commercial sexual exploitation”, stressing that it was a serious crime and heavy human rights violation.
He noted that over 8million children who managed to stay in school and work at their spare time could not break the jinx of poverty because they normally skipped classes which prevented them from having a better live and safer future.
Fayose said Ekiti was the first state to domesticate the Child’s Rights Law during his first term in government in 2006 when the state’s Child’s Right Law was establishment and the Implementation and Monitoring Committee was set up to protect Ekiti children from being
moved illegally for enslavement.
The Governor who called on all stakeholders to see themselves as watchdogs and tools through which trafficking will be reduced to the barest minimum in the state, charged them to report suspicious characters and locations of nefarious activities to the appropriate organs of government or law enforcement agencies for prompt actions.
In his keynote address, the Minister of State (II) for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Nurudeen Muhammad, who was represented by Ambassador Orevba Olusola said that trafficking in persons and child abuse are a menace that has dented the nation’s image across the globe.
The Minister pointed out that about 2.4million Nigerians were victims of the dastardly act while 90% of this population was involved in sexual exploitation, ranging from prostitution to baby manufacturing”
While tracing the cause of the menace to poverty, illiteracy, greed and over-ambition among our people, the Minister charged the people to be pro-active in checking the menace in our rural communities.
