Human trafficking will no longer be tolerated – Edo Speaker

Edo State Government has taken drastic measures to curb the menace of human trafficking which has bastardized the image of the state as
human traffickers who found Edo State as a safe haven for their illicit acts are to be prosecuted and jailed accordingly.

Speaker, Edo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon Kabiru Adjoto, while addressing the press on the outcome of the Conference on human
trafficking and women empowerment held in Italy, said Italian Government had signed a memorandum of understanding with Edo State
Government to halt the demand of traffickers.

The Speaker said, the State Government had sent a bill which is currently before the House, receiving speedy attention to fastrack its passage into law, adding that if it is assented to by the governor, it will curb the avariciousness of human traffickers, as well as parents who encourage their children to embark on fruitless journey to Italy.

He described human trafficking as the worst form of human exploitation, and slavery in the present day century, which is against the fundamental human rights of the victims.
The Speaker said human trafficking has assumed a frightening dimension with a chilling figures of about eight thousand victims trafficked on regular basis, while Edo State is worst hit, which informed the setting up of a task force empowered and mandated to arrest and disband the cartel of human traffickers in the State.

The Speaker explained that apart from trafficked persons being lured into prostitution as already being established with the female fork, the male organ are being harvested, stored and sold at a higher price in the European market. This ugly development must be addressed as the State Government has created an enabling environment to rehabilitate and reintegrate rescued victims into the society.

The Speaker of Edo State House of Assembly warned parents, who Connived with human traffickers to lure their children into being trafficked to refrain from the illicit acts as the bill when passed into law empowered the task force on human trafficking to prosecute parents found culpable aiding and abetting human trafficking.

.

By Titus Akhigbe,Benin