Shaki town , a notorious human trafficking place

Shaki  town : notorious for    human trafficking

 Shaki town  where human trafficking and child  labour    thrives

Inspite of  efforts  by the  National Agency for the Prohibition Child Labour    and  Human Trafficking to  fight the scourge,  there are pointers that the illegal business still boom  in remote places  like Shaki in Oyo North.  Taiwo Abiodun, who was there recently, reports

Asha

 

Road to Togo

Imagine, this is child abuse

Sandra

Shaki  town : notorious for    human trafficking

 Shaki town  where human trafficking and child  labour    thrives

Inspite of  efforts  by the  National Agency for the Prohibition Child Labour    and  Human Trafficking to  fight the scourge,  there are pointers that the illegal business still boom  in remote places  like Shaki in Oyo North.  Taiwo Abiodun, who was there recently, reports

Ten  young girls from one of the West African countries and whose ages could not be less than 19 years each work as house maids in Ikoyi, Lagos.   While each earns ten thousand naira per month, Sunnu, another girl who is not part of the ten, takes home twenty thousand naira a month. When the ten got wind of it, they registered they registered  their  displeasure which  later degenerated to name calling and exchanging of blows. In the end, the secret leaked out that the agent who brought the 10girls from Togo had bargained for 40,000 per head as salary while paying the girls a quarter of the sum. Reason: the contractor brought them into the country and paid their transportation fares with the consultancy services! He has since then been taking his own share of 30,000 naira as his own profits based on their agreement. Sunnu on the other hand got  the job through her own effort and had nobody to settle. ’’I trekked hundreds of  kilometers passing through the bush and Shaki, then took okada  before landing here in Nigeria so I have nobody to pay  any dues  to.’’  Human trafficking  and child labour have  become endemic   in the country especially  the  border towns.

Borders

Among   the Nigerian borders especially    in the south west  ,   Shaki  in  Oyo  state is noted to  having   the most notorious  and porous borders especially in human  trafficking. The town   has many routes that serve  as entry points to   the neighboring countries like       villagers who act  as   security agents .They are not wearing  uniform .At the border, they  only   ask questions and collect tolls as they issue  receipts from the  drivers. For them, no checking of loads .No passport is   checked as uniformed  Immigration officer was sighted .But here,  an immigrant will only grease the palm of the Border people and then cross to the other side after.    Though,  those manning the border   are  not armed  yet the  stern-looking plain clothed men  are vigilant as they kept watching everyone  with their eagle eyes  . At the  border are petty business being operated especially food vendors and liquor  sellers thriving in their illicit gin.

As  this reporter  sighted a fully loaded  trailer  lorry  covered with tarpaulin, Investigations  revealed   that  the trailer was loaded with smuggled goods like,petroleum    irons, and other materials   to Togo.  The okada rider confided in this reporter  that  whoever challenges them will be attacked .’’They are  armed. But   hide  their riffles. With their  arms and ammunition they can do anything  and these are revealed when there is crisis at the  border’’.

 Another   fully loaded  blue –painted  trailer was sighted  where it was neatly parked   after the border but as the reporter wanted to take some   snap  shots  the okada rider counseled ‘’ Don’t take any picture here except you are   ready to  die’’, that is the  hazard a reporter finds himself.

The road   that leads to   Togo    is not  tarred    and the bush path has been noted to be the escape routes for politicians and more so for Professor Wole Soyinka when he tried to escape from the country during Abacha regime when he posed as a hunter and escaped .The  late Chief Adisa M.  Akinloye  the former NPN Chairman  in the second Republic   was said  to have escaped from there when the army struck  in the early 80s.

Methods and new dimension   

To secure an house maid   there   are many methods  the traffickers devise  so as  to evade   NITPEP’s   campaign  against  human  trafficking . So therefore the traffickers strategize  in order to beat them to it by either coming through motor bikes, cars, or rather trek through the bush path .

Sango motor Park

This is the  park where a lot of  Togolese are brought  to begin their journey  to  their destinations.

At the park are Peugeot  504 cars used for commercial purposes especially  for conveying these Togolese. Many would seat on roof top of the vehicles while some on the load placed on the top of the cars. ’’Many had fallen off like this and had died in  the process. Some go by taking an okada  to Lome or to ShakiWhen The Nation approached the Lome driver and posed as a potential client  looking for house maids , the driver who identified himself as  Yusuf  put the reporter   through. He said  ‘’ It is based on arrangement and proper negotiation between the customer and the driver. We charge six thousand naira per head to bring a house help from   Togo  to this Sango  motor park  while the customer will have to negotiate  with them on how much she or he would be paying the   house help at the end of every month’’ ,he  explained  with confidence    as he was very eager to assist bring some from Togo over an agreed price.

However, it is revealed that every Thursday is their market day as they would be at the market like Bazaar. ’’Thursday is always the  best day to  find these Togolese , then you will  select and pick. It is like a Bazaar market, and there you need a bargaining power and again there are agents waiting for them  too’’. 

Shaki Streets

Most of the   streets in Shaki  are noted for this kind of business. When The Nation met some women who were sitting   on the pavement of a shop speaking Togolese Language  waiting  for  who to take  them away to work with . When challenged  they responded in  annoyance and said they were not waiting for this reporter. Pressed   further on what they were still doing with their kids    , the eldest among them got up and said ‘’please go away, we know whom we are waiting for, we are not coming to meet you for you did not invite us ’’. According to Mr  Sikiru, a native of the town , these people are waiting for their agent  who would be taking them to Ibadan, Lagos, Port Harcourt  where they will be working as house maids. ‘’They  are everywhere in Shaki and they have confidence as they move around freely as  if  they are Nigerians.’’

Probed on how they are  allowed to  roam   the streets behind the motor park and  where they would be accommodated or sleep for days waiting for  their clients to come and pick them up. Sikiru said the police authority cannot deny of not seeing them while our Immigration officers too cannot deny.

According to investigation  there are agents noted for this business  ‘’There are some people who come here to demand for them .He would assure them of where to stay  even with their kids .They are recruited in Togo before they get here. Many go into prostitution   to make a living .Some agents would pose as car dealers , or merchant but their job is   recruitment of human beings.  The   recruitment Agency  would  take  them  in  and  employ them in companies .

Hotels , Beer parlous   and Joints

Deals are struck in hotels  and in the Beer Parlous where  the Togolese are brought in order to keep them off from suspecting  State Security  Service[SSS].When The Nation got to a  Beer Parlour in the early hours of that Sunday , he demanded on how to get some Togolese. In a joyful mood as if Bar manager  had won a jackpot , he  affirmed that they can be got easily .He said ‘’if it were yesterday[Saturday] that you came you could have seen some they brought here, they were looking for people to hire them. Anyway let us  know when you will come back again and we would have arranged for  you.’’, he counseled.

At the Bar were three young   Togolese: Sandra Asha, Magaret and Yunsia were seen on Sunday morning attending to customers and   serving beer while the third one Yunsia was as  busy as a bee as she  engrossed in conversation with a male customer who was possibly demanding  for her hand in sexual business . They spoke   Togolese   language .The Two  of them said they came from Bassa in Togo , while the third  one could speak smattering French. They all chatted with this reporter and asked him to come back for a house maid who will follow him to Lagos.  

Another Togolese who could  not be less than six  or seven years  old was seen serving beer in one of the Bars in the town . Asked where she came from , she replied ‘’I be Togo, I dey work for mama’’, when asked whether the woman was her Biological  mother , she shook her head to say ‘no’

Danger of recruiting Togolese

Many of these Togolese are in the country without having their immigration papers   which according to Mr. Joseph Ades…. ‘’ this is dangerous , as many do commit crime and leave without giving  any address and if nobody  checks  it could be  fake. Their   addresses are also fake making it difficult to trace them  when they commit crime. Corroborating Joseph’s   words , recently, a woman[names withheld] in Ajah lost over 30million naira worth of jewelries to a Togolese. The   woman   begged for anonymity. She recruited Togolese  as  the driver, Chef, Security officers  and house helps. One   day she came back from the church and met her box of jewelries worth   of 30million  of naira  was carted away as the Chef and a female house help  had disappeared   into the thin air. The addresses they gave were all fake and the owner of the Agency who  recruited  them bolted away.

Age  and sex no barrier                                                                                               

Age and sex has  no barrier at all and depending  on what the clients want, another Togolese  girl who could not be less than 12years did not want  her name in print said ” I come from Togo, my mama no money, my papa die , e long. We no get nothing and we go eat. I trekked  from my place, enter okada come come to Nigeria. I dey work .den ndey pay four thasand naira for one month’’, all she was trying to say is that ‘my   mother is poor, and my father  had died  long time ago . We have nothing to eat. I trekked from my place via okada to Nigeria. I am being paid four thousand naira per month. 

Why Nigerians prefer other foreigners

 Nigerians , now prefer   sending their wards to schools or send them to training  to learn skills , thus  nobody  allows his daughter  to be house maid again, therefore  getting house maid has become difficult and they prefer to hire Togolese and other foreigners due to the  cheap labour.

However Mrs Esther […] a civil Lagos   civil servant said Togolese are now getting scarce in Lagos except in neighboring towns where they are got cheaply. She gave her own experience ’’ when I was  in dire need of one  and  could not get  I then   sent someone to Togo  but I was told they have been sending their children to schools or to learn one skill or the other. So in Lagos you can hardly find one ‘’.

Madam Mary Okarfor said she has lost their love for these foreigners , she said ‘’ before now you can trust them more than your siblings but not now when they are too smart and cannot be trusted any longer.’’    

Segun Kayode a  business man who deals in charcoal business in the town  said the town is known for  bunkering business ‘’Look my brother , the   town is notorious in bunkering and some other illegal business,  and it is always difficult for them to arrest since they connive with the security officers. ’’there are many places that you can take to other neighbouring African cities.

When contacted, Chief Omofoweyo Azeez Adeleke who is the Bakoja of Shaki town  confirmed that   the town has been noted for  human trafficking and other things because of its closeness to the borders.

Adeleke   humorously added that what they have in Shaki is   a big mountainous rock , called  Asabari  that used to rescue the  nativess .