Human Trafficking: Ambassador urges govt. to tackle unemployment

The Gambian Ambassador to Nigeria, Amb. Mohamadou-Musa Njie, has urged the government to tackle the menace of unemployment to check human trafficking.

The Ambassador made the call in Abuja on Tuesday during the meeting and inauguration of a Joint Technical Working Group (JTWG) between Nigeria and Gambia to prevent, suppress, and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children.

Njie, who stressed the need to ensure that young people are gainfully employed, added that challenges confronting the country’s education system must also be addressed.

He said that the Gambian government would work to create a system where those coming into the country would be made to register, adding that “people’s perception when they leave a country has aided trafficking.

“We must find a safe heaven for all these challenges to reduce human trafficking; this must be a joint effort between both countries.

“The relationship between the two countries could also be boosted if we increased trading and exports, where each country has a comparative advantage.

“Bitter kola is expensive in Gambia, but it is abundant in Nigeria; plantain is in abundance

and cheap here in Nigeria, but expensive in Gambia; we must find a common ground for the exportation of these products.

“Fish is cheap in Gambia but expensive here; the job is on us as ambassadors to work through our various ministries to facilitate trade between the two countries.

“We must also reduce transportation and taxes; all these must be made easier if we are to reduce unemployment and human trafficking,” he stressed.

Amb. Mohammed Manu, Nigerian Ambassador to The Gambia, said the inauguration of the technical working committee is a step in the right direction to minimize human trafficking.

He added that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) had earlier been signed, “and now is time to get the two countries to agree on the content of the MoU and start implementation.”

He said that the newly inaugurated committee would look at the crux of the heinous crime and find solutions to address it to save lives.

Manu also talked about the relationship between Nigeria and The Gambia, saying that both countries already have good relationships that they would build on with the signing of the MoU.

Mrs. Isatou Dabo, the Executive Director of the National Agency Against Trafficking in Persons (NAATIP-Gambia), said that members of the technical working group, who are from both countries, would develop a work plan.

She said that the main purpose of the group is to find a term of reference and develop it so that both countries can understand and know what their obligations are arising from the MoU already signed in 2022.

She noted that there are good numbers of Nigerian nationalists who have been trafficked into The Gambia, especially in the aspect of sexual exploitation.

According to her, the government of Gambia cannot act alone in dealing with the issue without carrying the Nigerian government along.

Mr. Abdulganiyu Abubakar, the President of the Network Against Child Trafficking, Abuse, and Labor (NACTAL), said the initiative behind the whole idea was a response to the request stakeholders wrote to the European Union.

He disclosed that a large number of Nigerian girls are trafficked to The Gambia for different purposes, adding that the meeting would design a roadmap to help rescue the girls.

The Director-General, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAATIP), Prof. Fatima Waziri-Azi, said the technical committee would be the engine room to ensure the implementation of the MoU.