Happenings

Child and Human trafficking have become means to an end for several Nigerians who have lost hope in the system under the present administration.

Reports of these ugly trend are recorded on a daily basis, with the law enforcement agencies struggling to stem the tide.

Baby factories are on the increase while mothers, mostly the young ones, sell their new born babies to cushion the effects of the present economic realities.

Teenagers and adults are deceived into traveling abroad, but end up as prostitutes or slaves. This trend in not abating.

In this interview , the Founder, Spiritual Head and Gran Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke opines that poor governance which has brought about poverty is the major cause of child and human trafficking

Child and Human trafficking is what a sizable number of Nigerians engage in these days. Why is this so ?

Nigeria was first a country where discipline, control the fabric of all social spiritual sub systems . It was characterized by very low import index and very high export index. Religious laws were in tandem with the societal norms to create a path of sanity for our interpersonal relationship and our general attitude towards values.

Unfortunately, the Nigerian youth in the mufti of the military killed the geese that laid the golden eggs. Since then, value erosion crept in to destroy all agents of socialization for the nation, to stand with very weak legs.

The civil war followed to put us into alien idiosyncrasies, whereby every moral value is replaced with overtures of waywardness and frivolities starting from the home front to push the society into a state of moral decadence.

The most pitiable aspect was the era of searching for greener pastures in the houses of spirituality whereby we replaced sacredness with profanity and we commercialized, against the tenets of the scripture on the word of God.

Sins committed by people became the software which now transformed into the hardware of criminality.

FESTAC ‘’77 promoted culture as if its is a twin brother of satanic practices. We gave voodooism priority to trivialize the essence of puritanism in religious worship, modesty was murdered to be replaced by shameless acts of fraudulent families while dignity of labor was placed into poor second for various malpractices by the youth to be aided by the elders.

The sociopolitical and economic life as well as our state of spirituality thereafter became badly affected.

All media is able to report, is a micro version of the real happenings in the land. The issue of child and human trafficking therefore, emanated in the land as a result of the dichotomy been introduced by the ruling class whereby the suffering masses continue to suffer from impoverishment, while the ruling elite turn democracy into a money makig opportunity through the concept of ego centrism to change democracy into kleptocracy as evident in the rising profile of poverty indices, 15 per cent in the 60s followed by a progressive arithmetic of 28.8 per cent in 1983 , 42 per cent, 54 per cent, 65 per cent under the subsequent military regimes while the National Bureau of Statistics presented the economic experts evaluation in 1999 as 70 per cent.

Since then, up to the 9th National Assembly regime, it is yet to be improved. For example, in 2007 to 2009 more than 849 companies relocated to other African nations because of our bad economic climate for investment.

Many abandoned warehouses became places of worship that could never provide employment for the teeming masses, most especially those who were retrenched as a result of the collapse of companies.

The youth who were mostly affected became ordinary pawns in the hands of dubious elders who played the smart card.

Anti social menace arose, as a result of the emerging proffered alternative to survive in the race and crave for greener pastures. Armed robbery, arson and active participation of the youth in various insurgencies and militant activities were effective as a result of drug addiction with attendant abuses.

The con people hid under the bad economic situation to deceive the youth into the various illicit practices, ranging from visa scam and cases of forgery of documents, with sweet promises of jobs in abundance without consideration for certificate worth.

Many died in transit, most especially those who plied Libya en route the desert to the promised abode of succor. Some of them became victims along the journey, whereby they were always hammered into a corner and their kidneys forcibly removed, resulting in their deaths. This practice brought good money for the smart guys in the medical world of kidney transplantation.

The most popular but destructive form of trafficking , is deceit of the victims by promising them jobs abroad, which later turn out to be prostitution via several underworld conspiracy against legitimate governments.

The bottom line that is making this bad attitude to flourish is the issue of poverty and poor governance which needs to be squarely addressed through the following steps :

One, engaging the citizens through effective sensitization through the National Orientation Agency(NOA), and the mass media on the dangers of getting involved in the trafficking of persons.

Secondly, government must reform all institutions to be effective enough in promoting sanity.

The judiciary must be firm as partners in progress with quick interventions on emerging cases while the agencies which are directly concerned must be rightly strengthened to do their work without fear or favor and timely too.

Thirdly, we must revive, for the purpose of the restoration of core values, all agents of socialization such as the parents, schools, religious houses, voluntary organizations and a host of others.

Be responsive and responsible in the process and crusade of core value restoration.

Above all, let government officials be role models on the issue of decency, chastity, drug free life, with total pursuance of zero tolerance to corruption with no respect for institutional indiscipline.

The issue of role modelling of exemplary lifestyles by parents and the elite is equally sacrosanct to the promotion of the issue of integrity as a key factor to core value restoration.

When government pursues, realistically, the issue of vocation for the establishment of Small Scale Enterprises(SSE) and Small and Medium Scale Enterprises(SME), youth restiveness would be minimized because they would be meaningfully engaged with focus on job creation, self-employment and self discipline.

Let government use the SWOT analysis to re examine the situation to do the needful in order that we can walk the talk to correct all aberrations at 59.

Also read : Nigeria at 59-Only The Beneficiaries of the Lapses in Governance have a reason to Celebrate-Prof. Olagoke here-https://bit.ly/2nctwYX

The Association of Water Well Drilling Rig Owners and Practitioners(AWDROP) has warned that any attempt to increase the Value Added Tax(VAT) by 7.2 per cent will have adverse effect on millions of Nigerians.

AWDROP made this position known through its National Public Relations Officer, Mr. Richard Adeyinka

‘’All Nigerians know that the Federal Government needs money, but it must thread with caution, considering the state of the economy. Any increase in VAT will affect all aspects of life negatively, the masses will suffer for it. At the present 5 per cent VAT the masses know what they are going through, what happens if it is now increased by 7.2 per cent ?.’’

‘’Democracy means government of the people, for the people and by the people. Government cannot stand alone without the masses, who voted those in government into power. It is advisable for government to look elsewhere’’, Mr. Adeyinka stated.

Drug addiction, abuse and trafficking are among the several social problems confronting Nigeria presently.

Indeed, addiction and abuse are rampant among the youth, while trafficking has for long become a major source of livelihood for a number of Nigerians.

Of note, is that hard drug use and violent crimes are complimentary, although the Federal Government have, over the years, paid lip service to this fact.

A source of worry lies in the role of the political class, in the use of drugs by their foot-soldiers to gain political mileage.

In this interview, the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Pro. Sabitu Olagoke opines that the interest of the Powers That Be makes it difficult for to curb hard drug menace.

Drug addiction, abuse and trafficking have to a great extent contributed to the worrisome state of insecurity in Nigeria. Are you comfortable with this fact ?

The history of the rise in criminality could be traced to the era of the military incursion in governance. If we are to connect it with the mysterious disappearance of Gloria Okon and the ultimate unrepentant investigative journalism that resulted in the demise of the late Dele Giwa, then it leaves much to be desired.

That was the period when we could actually conclude that the cookie crumbled and the secrecy of illicit affairs and undercover criminality were found to be glorifying the creme de la creme of the society, which the Late Fela Anikulapo Kuti, described as the expected Very Important Personalities(VIP) into the actual reality of government and the elite class been constituted by vagabonds in power. Things Fall Apart, according to the late Prof. Chinua Achebe, was why the Falcons could no longer hear the Falconers, while the center became elusive to hold.

Suffice it to now say that if the ‘’Powers that Be’’ are clearly uninterested in drug abuse or trafficking the criminals behind it wouldn’t have been so difficult to tame.

This is an era when sadism has replaced parental need in governance, for those in power to be daring in their involvement in the evils that they are supposed to control.

Let’s first use the exchange of prisoners for innocent citizens who were kidnapped by the government of a state to settle the bandits, what of the case of Wadume, who was released from captivity by some Soldiers ?

When criminals are been aided and abetted in a nation, justice is already murdered and the issue of security is at stake. Most often, like fables, tales from Arabian stories, innocent, but poor citizens are often exchanged for the real criminals, who have Barons as godfathers.

Unfortunately, Nigeria has lost all virtues revolving on the dignity of labor to core values of integrity, which has been replaced by the craze for material wealth and quick money making schemes.

Unfortunately, the ugly phenomena has crept into the houses of God,changing the divine code of sacredness into the satanic code of profanity.

We can easily infer that Nigerians are naked now, losing the glorious wares of spirituality to lack divine intervention in their political, social and economic affairs, while most of us are dehumanized, chasing the shadows of life in accumulating wealth illegally.

To exhibit our height of shame, Nigerians hero worship and even confer honors and chieftaincy titles on most of the people with questionable character.

Drug abuse cuts across all classes of Nigerians, with respect to age, position and other measures.

Children start with burnt cigarette remnants through their peer group and when they are in adolescence, they engage in the use of marijuana or cannabis, either for mere pleasure or to be active in fornication or at social gatherings.

The originality of developing potentials through technical trainings, is hereby absent in their bid to make an head way in life.

This extends to the deterioration in our reading culture, to the extent that they resort to the misuse of the social media, while Nigerian institutions end up turning out graduates, who are unable to express themselves.

This poor background, cuts across our social, environment and economic lives, which results in the production of quacks, while at the same time depending on artisans, in place of technical experts and skill based leaders.

In this kind of environment, it is therefore, normal to have drug addicts in government, who might not be able to fully control the activities of drug traffickers.

Nigeria has become a mere talk shop, where evil doers lead in the praise and worship of God.

Leaders who have corruptly enriched themselves, now lead in counseling prison inmates and also blaze the trail in the presentation of papers on ways of preventing crime.

Any lofty idea for development, is gloriously orchestrated to be abandoned at the implementation level.

Nigeria failed in Vision 2010, we somersaulted in Vision 20-20-20, which has made our becoming one of the 20 economically viable nations in the world a mirage.

What of how we insulted the United Nations, on its charges to all nations of the world, to fund education adequately and the health sector to a functional state. This is just as government has failed to utilize the benefits of various grants, including the Millennium Development goals(MDGs) and the ongoing Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs), instead, we excel in using tribal sentiments and nepotism to run each other down, while the country’s image abroad is always at stake.

For example, 77 out of 80 caught for cyber crime in the United States of America, happen to be Nigerians.

Nigeria is the major recipient of xenophobic attacks, while the kind of character Nigeria breeds, makes the whole world justify the country’s decapitation challenges in Saudi Arabia and China.

Nigerians top in the number of criminals in various jails across the world.

Apart from the international embarrassment, the home front is equally suffering from threats of insecurity, if the activities of a cult group who engaged in ritual killings in Ikorodu in Lagos some time ago and most recently in Oyo state, are anything to go by.

Only under the influence of drugs, can anybody carry out such dastardly acts.

What about the Boko-Haram onslaught in the North East of the country ? and the banditry in Zamfara state, don’t also forget the Fulani herdsmen activities, the South South militancy and the continued kidnappings across Nigeria, which began from the South East.

Nobody will carry out this onslaught of mass killings and property destruction without been under the influence of hard drugs.

 Prosecution of court offenders which seems unclear, is a reflection of the lack of seriousness of government and the Judiciary because the impact has been so infinitesimal to bring about deterrence.

It is fundamental to note that drug abuse, drug trafficking are devilish as child trafficking for hard labor or ritual killings, human trafficking and the girl child ordeal in this modern day slavery, have always been influenced through drug abuse.

Prostitution and other crimes considered to be social problems, have their root in the effects of bad governance and the weakeness of the the apparatus of the system for effective control.

The hope of eradicating these evils, to have a sanitized society, is therefore in realizing that every Nigerian is a stakeholder, who has specific roles to play, starting from the agencies of government and the Ministries, Departments and Agencies, as well as the religious houses, through reviving into a functional state all agents of socialization to be coordinated through continuous sensitization programs by the National Orientation Agency through the media.

No single individual can do it and without government provision of basic amenities and functional infrastructure and employment as visible signs of good government insight. Let us all de emphasize quick money making syndrome, but uphold dignity of labor to prevent drug abuse and addiction, child trafficking, girl child abuse and women marginalization in the scheme of things.

With this on ground, the network of evil will easily be broken, for us to have a reliable and admirable nation expected of Africa and the rest of the world.

Reported and unreported cases of defilement, rape, sexual harassment and homosexuality, are on the increase in various parts of Nigeria and nothing impressive have been done to stem the ugly tide.

Parents, guardians and serious minded Nigerians are helpless and worried, even as law enforcement agencies have adopted a non-nonchalant approach in enforcing the law.

Indeed, most of the reported cases involve those at the bottom of the ladder in the society, while high profile cases have for long been shielded from the public domain.

In this interview, the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in Islam Wordlwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke opines that the Police and the Judiciary must first imbibe the tenets of discipline before victims of sexual crimes can have hope of getting justice. Excerpts :

Sexual crimes, including defilement, rape and homosexuality among others are on the increase in Nigeria, law enforcement agencies have failed to do the needful, Nigerians are worried, what are your views ?

Nigeria’s transition from a state of discipline, up to the 70’s, to that of institutional indiscipline, impunity and corruption have created an unsafe environment for the weak in the nation.

The most vulnerable people to the let out of attack are the marginalized women and the girl child in particular.

Our pace, as Nigerians, has nose dived into that of prey and predators, or to be specific a beastly level of existence.

A nation that focuses on material wealth alone, without a commensurate provision for work will ever throw its people into all forms of misdemeanor just to be able to survive and live, most especially to the regime of affluence, is not only in a state of emergency, but highly unsafe for habitation and highly unsecured for investment that may attract foreign interest.

With this kind of gory picture of the state of affairs in Nigeria, the people believe in enthroning a government that would be constitutionally empowered to correct all aberrations in the land.

Unfortunately the elected representatives deviate from the course of Democracy that is based on justice and equity for real development and peace to elude us, hence the present state of insecurity at all strata of human endeavor in Nigeria.

For example, cases like rape, defilement and pedophilia are expected to attract not less 14 years of imprisonment, to the worst, based on the level of damage a life term jail.

However, since all cases are whistle blowing, and offenders identified, prosecution in this direction is yet to be published, perhaps, because there is none.

In a situation of no deterrence, perpetrators of evil will continue will to multiply.

The structure in Nigeria not only encourage corruption, but also encourage people to go into various criminal acts.

This is because since the aftermath of Nigeria's civil war in 1970, we’ve been experiencing deterioration in the core values, that used to hold us intact into a state of discipline.

This becomes cancerous into an endemic state, polarizing every segment of our agencies of socialization, breaking them down into a state of lawless and weak fabric of our human existence, destroy sacredness to promote profanity.

Let us look into the following arrays of our stakeholders known as agents of socialization for correct transformation of the animal called man and the upbringing of our children.

Parents, neighbors, government, schools, houses of God or system of religion, traditional institutions of the Obas, Emirs and the Obis, peer groups and voluntary organizations, what of the agencies for the regulation and control of the system for the overall security of the community and the nation ?

A critical analysis of the present roles of these stakeholders is in a sorry state of destruction rather than construction, to the extent that Nigeria cannot claim to have a bequeath able legacy for our youth !

Suffice it now to say that for our prison yards to transform into a corrective fluid, government must avoid the foot dragging in delivering judgments by the Judiciary, to effectively depopulate our havens of criminality by upholding the ethics of all professions, in this case, the Police and the Judges, on these matters relating to child abuse, pedophilia and cases of rape.

The above mentioned must be disciplined themselves before they can discipline people into rejecting criminal tendencies.

Parents on the other hand must be sensitive, responsive and responsible, in bringing up their children, within safe custody, monitoring and on the need for nature nurturing for the children not to allow anybody to abuse them or whistle blow the possible occurrence of abuse in any form and by anybody from outside.

Government on the other hand must never show favor to offenders, researchers must support the cause of investigation to be able to uproot, the possible cases of aiding and abetting, even when it involves an intention of ritual killing to get rich quickly by perpetrators.

The society must be sensitized on the evil of child abuse, drug abuse and out-of-school children syndrome which is now back to more than 13 million in Nigeria and more than 400,000 in Oyo state.

Rape and pedophilia is very bestial and must be discouraged by all to have a sane and civilized society.

The acts are sinful and could attract divine sanction and it is imaginatively affecting the safety and security of the society.

We are all stakeholders in saving the future of our children, who we all regard as our future leaders, presently Nigeria’s image has been battered, both locally and internationally.

If we fail to do the correct things today on this matters the embarrassment to the country occasioned by those involved in fraudulent activities in the United States of America and the issue of xenophobic attacks in South Africa shall be a child’s play for our children in future, if these issues are are not decisively addressed.

Nigeria must learn how to adopt and adapt the culture of discipline and civility to be good ambassadors in and around the globe or wherever we may find ourselves.

Stop the acts of pedophilia, rape, homosexuality and other acts of human dehumanization.

Residents of Ibadan, the capital of Oyo state have expressed reservations over the increasing rate of petrol stations and gas plants cited in residentail areas.

The residents insist that these stations and plants pose great dangers to those who reside in and around these establishments.

''These petrol stations and gas plants are threats to people who reside near them. What if there is a negative occurence, what happens to the people ? The Oyo state government must do somwething about this'', one of the residents, Monsuru Akinleye stated.

Insinuations are that fraudulent officials of the Urban Development and Physical Planning Agency in the state connive with the powers that be  to approve the construction of these stations and plants to promote political patronage, in addition to the indiscriminate construction of hotels in residential areas.

There is also the suggestion that it would be extremely difficult for the state Government to muster the political will to reverse the ugly trend.

In his views, the Deputy Director of the state Fire Service, Mr. Moshood Adewuyi opined that since gas is for domestic consumption, the plants have to be located near the consumers.

''The public need to be informed that gas is for domesitc consumption and needs to be very near the consumers. People should not have nay fears for having it in theri domains, since necessary safety mesures have been put in place during constrcution. I want to advise the public not to panic over the way the gas plants are springing up in residential areas'', Mr. Adewuyi stated.

The All Workers Convergence(ACW) has berated labor leaders in Nigeria for begging President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in the new national minimum wage negotiation.

According to the National Coordinator of the AWC, Comrade Andrew Emelieze, ‘’ it is very embarrassing and ridiculous for labor leaders in Nigeria to beg Mr. President to intervene in the new minimum wage negotiation, President Muhammadu Buhari has severally made his stand known to Nigerian workers, that he is not ready to make workers happy, if not he ought to have influenced a reasonable new national minimum wage’’.

‘’ Labor leaders have exposed their weaknesses and stupidity by begging Mr. President, who from events is nonchalant to workers welfare. Painfully, Nigerian workers have lost out and the present crop of labor leaders are killing unionism in Nigeria, in their approach to the new national minimum wage by begging the question.’’

‘’Labor leaders have proven themselves to be a monumental disaster to the interest of Nigerian workers. And so, at the level of the AWC, we call on labor leaders to resign, if they cannot use legal industrial means to achieve the new national minimum wage’’, Comrade Emelieze stated.

Political Office Holders and other category of government officials have been admonished to serve as role models to Nigerians to ensure sanity returns to the polity.

This admonition was given by the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam f Shafaudeen-in-Islam Wrldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke in his sermon during prayers to commemorate this year's Ed el Kabir celebration at the Shafaudeen Mosque, Wakajaiye, Ibadan, Nigeria.

''Nigeria suffers from poverty and kleptocracy. We must not allow the environment to corrupt us. Those people in government should allow sanity to reign, they must role model good virtues. For Nigeria to have peace, justice and equity must prevail, while there must be transparency and accountability'', Prof. Olagoke asserted.

Prof. Olagoke also called on parents and guardians to place more emphasis on good parenting saying, ''good child rearing must be the preoccupation of Fathers and Mothers.''

Sadly, the contrary is the case in Ibadan, and other major cities in Nigeria, as the choice of words, mode of dressing and behavior of several youth leaves much to be desired.

Of worry, however, is the recent arrests effected by the Ibadan zone of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the Elebu area of Ibadan, capital of Oyo state.

This suggest that the ancient city is now a fortress for the ''yahoo'' adherents while the  Oyo state Government must take urgent steps to reverse this.