ABUJA—EMIR of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi II,yesterday, attributed the high rate of migration and human trafficking in Nigeria to maladministration.
He also said the privileged had not utilized their wealth in human development as they would have done.
Sanusi equally said the inequality on globalization of the economic system established by Africa was responsible for high migration in the continent.
The Emir, who spoke in Abuja at the launch of a book, titled “From Frying Pan to Fire: How African migrants risk everything in their futile search for a better life in Europe’, written by the former presidential spokesman for the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Olusegun Adeniyi, described as unfortunate recent report picturing Nigeria as world’s capital of the poor, when the country boasts of the richest man in Africa.
Sanusi said: “Instead of complaining about people running around the Sahara and trying to go to Europe, how many solar panel can we put in Sahara and generate energy and help small scale industries, who is talking about that?
“This country, Nigeria has a population of about 200 million, half of whom are under 20, if we don’t create economies for them, they are going somewhere.
“The richest man in Africa is from Nigeria and Nigeria is the poverty capital of the world, that is contradiction, that is typical of the world we have created.”
Involvement of witch doctors hasreduced human trafficking in Edo —Obaseki
Describing Edo as the greatest beneficiary of the book, Governor Obaseke disclosed that so far,4,200 trafficked persons had returned to his state, saying his administration was working towards resettling them.
He also disclosed that the involvement of native doctors by his government in addressing human trafficking in the state was effectively working.
“As the saying goes’the first step in solving a problem is by acknowledgement that the problem exist. Like Segun,who through his book,has called attention to this scourge,the scourge of irregular migration through his brother’s experience, in Edo State,we have acknowledged and accepted that since all 65 per cent of irregular migrants come from our state, we have now accepted that we have a problem,” he said.
And rather than denial,we have accepted that it’s a challenge and we now openly speak about it.”
He spoke further:”During my electioneering, while I was contesting to be a government,one issue that I was not allowed to talk about was the issue of human trafficking and irregular migration because if I did as a politician, it would cost me votes. So, during electioneering,it was a no-go area because of the economy and the amount of money that follows this trade.
“For us a government,we have decided to ask ourselves the fundamental questions ‘why us,why Edo State? And upon reflection,we got to the realization that it’s not because we are different from other Nigerians and it’s not because of our economic or socio-political situations.
“We have seen this as our problem,as Edo problem and decided to set up our anti-trafficking agencies at our own level. Of course,we have a bit of face-off with NAPTIP but we are still trying to smothen the relationship.
“Today,we have about 4,200 of some of them who have returned and we have documented each and every one of them and each and everyone of their experiences.
“One thing we have also done is to involve the traditional rulers to engage some of the native doctocs involved in the act to revoke what they put in them and it’s working.
“We had over 500 vocational training schools in Edo State that are supposed to be training some of these girls in vocational skills like hair dressing, clothes making and what have you but on a closer look,we found out that they were hiring,or recruitment centres for girls to be trafficked.
“So we had to close all of them down and streamline it to ensure that they are real vocational training centres.”
