The Presidential candidate of Labour Party at the 2023 general election, Peter Obi, has blamed poverty, lack of jobs and access to basic education for the rising rate of trafficking in Nigeria.
Mr Obi in a tweet on Sunday lamented the high spate at which Nigerians are being trafficked. According to him, the high spate of trafficking was a worrisome development that needed to be urgently addressed.
“Undoubtedly, It is the high level of poverty, lack of access to basic education, high unemployment rate and worsening living conditions in our country that are the main factors fuelling human trafficking in Nigeria,” Obi wrote.
Further citing the 2023 Global Slavery Index Report, Obi lamented that “with 1.6 million trafficked persons, Nigeria ranks 38 out of the countries with the highest number of slaves in the world. This is a worrisome and embarrassing situation that needs to be urgently addressed.
“By investing in the three most critical areas of human development: education, health and poverty eradication, we will stamp out this societal ill,” he added.
His comment comes as Nigerians continue to seek greener pastures in western countries.
Recall that in the first quarter of 2023, the Muhammadu Buhari led federal government attempted to place embargo on migration of Nigerian doctors to western nations over the high rate in which Nigerian trained medical doctors were relocating to practice abroad.
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