By Jude Opara, Abuja
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda has charged state governors to begin to do more to alleviate the sufferings of the people they govern, given the huge revenue they collect each month from the federation account.
Prof. Yilwatda who spoke on Monday in Abuja at the presentation of the book: Vicious Red Circle regretted that most of the young people who are falling victims of human trafficking were pushed by the bad economy bedeviling the country.
He praised President Bola Tinubu for his courage in removing the fuel subsidy, saying the outcome of that bold step is the huge revenue that now accrue to states every month.
According to him, the good works of the APC administration under President Tinubu is one of the factors that are encouraging many state governors to defect to the ruling party.
“We have 24 and we are still counting. We will have more. Now I can show you, no governor in Nigeria who knows that two years ago, there was only a share of about 400 billion Naira per month.
“But today, the last share they did was 2.2 trillion Naira. No governor in Nigeria today collects less than three times, up to four times what they used to collect before, none.
“So they can do more for their people. No governor collects lower than three times, none. They are focusing now on bigger projects; and to me, this is a turnaround that we need in governance.
“I would say, talk to your governors, talk to your Local Government Chairmen. Let them do more. I can share with you more, talk to the APC governors to do more”.
In his speech, the author, Amb. Alex Ugochukwu Oriaku said human trafficking is a vicious, self-perpetuating cycle of exploitation, vulnerability, and silence.
Oriaku further described the issue as a circle that preys on the desperate, the vulnerable, the marginalized, and the unseen; adding that for far too long, the society has allowed this circle to remain unbroken, operating in the shadows and on the edges of awareness.
“I didn’t write the book to tell a sad story but to bring to bare the realities of our time. It’s a fictitious story of Itohan who could be your own daughter. We are here to build bridges to end the vicious circle human trafficking and the darkness it connotes”.
The book reviewer, Dr. Ike Neliaku said the work revealed the hidden world of child trafficking and also exposed the very energy that drives and encourages child trafficking.
Dr. Neliaku who is also the President of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) noted that the book exposed how poverty, false hopes and promises push young girls into sex slavery.
“The Vicious Red Circle also revealed that the illicit trade of human trading uses persuasion as against force to trap unsuspecting victims. They equally use oath taking and evil covenants with the family of the victims”.
Neliaku noted that efforts must be put in place by all and sundry to support the efforts of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) in curtailing the issue of human trafficking.
He urged all Nigerians to try and get a copy of the book and also to go ahead and read it and to equally go a step further by practicing and implementing some of the things the author noted could stem the ugly trend of human trafficking.
The Director General of the Nigerian Intelligence Agency (NIA), Amb. Mohammed Mohammed in his goodwill message said the issue of human trafficking must be tackled by all and sundry.
He also assured that the agency is engaging its counterparts from other parts of the world to collaborate in putting in measures that will tackle the menace.
In her remarks, the Director General of NAPTIP, Binta Adamu Bello said the fight against human trafficking cannot be won only on the strength of enforcement, but by reading and sharing stories of the sordid effects of trafficking.
She also assured that NAPTIP will continue to collaborate with the author to ensure that the right measures would be put in place to curtail the evil act of trafficking.
The event was attended by top government officials, members of the Diplomatic Corp.
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