The rescue of Nigerian sex slaves in Spain

MANY Nigerians were delighted, albeit with a tinge of embarrassment, when the news broke about the rescue of 39 Nigerian girls who were being subjected to sex slavery in Spain. The majority of the girls, who were reportedly under the age of 18, broke free from the shackles of a sex trafficking ring in Spain courtesy of the collaborative intervention of Europol, Spanish law enforcement and the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).  The girls were allegedly made to swear to a fetish oath of secrecy and loyalty to their slave masters before being taken on boats to Spain via Libya and Italy by their fellow compatriots. And in Spain, the slave masters organised and coordinated their subjection to sexual exploitation for the pecuniary gain of the traffickers.

The traffickers reportedly kept the girls in cave-like houses in squalid conditions and where they knew the innocent girls had little or no chance of escape.  This ignoble business is reportedly complex, extensive and deeply rooted in Nigeria and Spain. Eiye Confraternity, a notorious secrete cult that used to derive membership largely from unserious and delinquent students in the country’s tertiary institutions in the 80s, was reportedly associated with this organised crime. Perhaps it should be mentioned that Eiye Confraternity in recent times has inexplicably gained membership in many urban centres and outside the campuses of tertiary institutions, especially in the South-West. It is yet unclear which of these two variants of the outlawed cult group is involved in the illicit business and its relationship with an unnamed popular Disc Jockey (DJ) already fingered by investigators as being complicit in the dastardly act. It is hoped that Europol’s discrete but painstaking investigation, which is still ongoing, will unravel the mystery.

• Jury system cannot work in Nigeria ―Sagay

Lately, the rate at which news about Nigeria and some Nigerians has continued to headline major tabloids and electronic media locally and internationally for the wrong reasons is becoming quite unsettling.  It is either about the grave insecurity of lives and properties, in addition to poor condition of living in the country, or the desperate and embarrassing measures being taken by some Nigerians outside the shores of the country in order to escape the inevitable hardship at home. While we condemn the ignoble behaviour of some unscrupulous Nigerians, especially those that have brought the country into disrepute, we have not lost sight of the remote and immediate causes of the growth in criminal  tendencies and the increasing number of malefactors, particularly among young Nigerians.

Yes, no circumstances under the sun can provide justification for the reenactment of the slave trading of Nigerians by Nigerians or nationals of other countries, especially the forceful conversion of innocent and largely underage girls into commercial sex workers in a foreign land. That is criminal and morally reprehensible and, therefore, most unacceptable. However, the truth is that a sizeable number of these Nigerians were simply taking desperate, albeit deplorable, measures to tide over the lingering adversity at home.  Many, including members of the criminal gangs and their victims, might not have contemplated travelling outside Nigeria, let alone engaging in criminal activities if the situation in the country was capable of supporting the attainment of lofty objectives by hardworking persons. The stark reality is that life in Nigeria is hellish and people are making frantic efforts to escape the horror. It is so bad that a stowaway recently vowed to leave Nigeria by all means.

Many of the youths are still hanging around in the country not because they have seen any official measures that have inspired hope or pointed in the direction of improvements  in the security and economic situations of the country

but because they lack the wherewithal to leave the country. That is the crux of the matter. And until the government begins to pay serious attention to the needs of Nigerians, especially the teeming population of jobless youths, despicable and criminal conducts may continue to recur. This is because nature abhors a vacuum and, somehow, water tends to find its level.  Therefore, deliberate and extraordinary official measures should be taken to jumpstart significant improvements in the economic and security conditions in the land.

The objectives should be to ensure the safety of Nigerians and make them active and vibrant economic actors. That would appear to be the surest method for ensuring that the restless youths operate within the precincts of decorum and decency.Nonetheless, we commend the local and international law-enforcement bodies for their efforts at bursting the criminal gangs that are involved in the trafficking of persons and the sex slave business, and more importantly for rescuing the innocent girls. We urge them to conduct a thorough investigation that can help to bring all the perpetrators to book and put paid to this illicit business across the globe.