Exploring the Material Bases for Outmigration and Human Trafficking in the Farming Communities of Kwara State, Nigeria
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Date
2023
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Publisher
Universiteit Leiden, Netherlands
Abstract
Perception of human trafficking among selected rural-farming households in Kwara State in the Middle Belt of Nigeria is based on analysis of data obtained from 120 heads of farming households. Deploying a 5-point Likert-type scale as indicator of awareness of human trafficking, knowledge of the phenomenon is not gender-selective in nature, and a majority (77.5%) stated that they have out-migrants in their household, more than half (54.2%) of which were in the age range 10-20 years at the time of move. Major reasons for leaving base include: lack of employment opportunities (mean score=4.6 of 5), lack of better social services and amenities and poor access to better education, while high wage and income in destination was a major pull factor. Most of the victims thus get lured by human trafficking agents premised on prospects of getting them good jobs abroad but eventually find themselves trapped and often end up with concocted debts mounted on them by these traffickers. Implications of cross-border social and economic linkages of the study area to northern areas of Benin Republic are further highlighted for international trafficking.