Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has called for a united and culturally sensitive approach to tackling the growing intersection between ritual abuse and human trafficking across Africa.

Sanwo-Olu, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Abimbola Salu-Hundeyin, gave the charge yesterday in Lagos at the First African Colloquium Against Human Trafficking: A United Front Against Ritual Abuse and Human Trafficking in Africa, organised by the Sudreau Global Justice Institute, Pepperdine University, California, USA, in collaboration with the Lagos State Ministry of Justice.

However, a league of Attorney Generals from Kenya, Uganda, Cameroon, Tanzania and some AGs of various states in Nigeria converged to find a solution to the regional scourge of human trafficking.

Sanwo-Olu, while urging the African leaders to form a continental alliance against human trafficking and ritual killings, described both as “heinous crimes that strip victims of their dignity and humanity.”

Team Lead for Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants (TIPSOM), Ezinne Nwaokoro, who spoke on behalf of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), said the government is determined to dismantle trafficking networks through coordinated legal, diplomatic, and community-based responses.

Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Kazeem Alogba, described human trafficking as a global pandemic threatening human dignity.He, therefore, stressed the need for proper training and motivation of law enforcement personnel who serve as “foot soldiers” in combating trafficking. He also commended the Lagos legislature for imposing tougher penalties and reaffirmed the judiciary’s commitment to enforcing anti-trafficking laws.

Also, the Lagos Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Lawal Pedro (SAN), said human trafficking had become a global criminal enterprise generating over $236 billion in illegal profits yearly.

He noted that trafficking and ritual crimes had become organised, commercialised, and transnational, thriving on desperation, poverty, and weak enforcement systems.

In her remark, Director-General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Hajiya Bintu Adamu Bello, represented by Josiah Emerole, said ritual abuse remains one of the darkest forms of human exploitation linked to human trafficking.

Director of the Sudreau Global Justice Institute, Pepperdine University, Prof. Cameron McCollum, said the institution is committed to supporting African nations in building stronger justice systems to combat ritual abuse and human trafficking. (The Guardian)