Benue Overtakes Edo In Human Trafficking
Benue Overtakes Edo In Human Trafficking
Statistics shows that Benue State has overtaken Edo State on human Trafficking in Nigeria.
The trade has assumed a worrisome and unprecedented level in Benue State, making stakeholders call on both the state government and the people to take a more proactive steps to tackle the trend.
Stakeholders at a one day community dialogue meeting on child trafficking in Benue State, organized by Benue NGOs Network, BENGONET, revealed that the state now records highest number of trafficking cases and rescued victims in Nigeria, according to NAPTIP data for 2024 and 2025.
The Chairman of BENGONET, Lazarus Mom, said women, young girls and adolescents have become easy targets for traffickers due to their vulnerable conditions, attributing it to worsening insecurity, mass displacement and rising poverty among vulnerable population, like the IDPs.
Benue State Coordinator of the National Human Rights Commission, Daniel Entonu, said trafficking exists where human rights protections fail, destroying the core rights, noting human rights laws is meant to protect.
While Listing sexual exploitation, forced labour, domestic servitude, slavery, organ harvesting, forced begging and forced marriage, among common forms of exploitation associated with trafficking, he identified weakened family structures, poverty, poor access to education, as the lead cause.
He, however, said the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP. is responding and working tirelessly to curtail it’s prevalence.
