Senate okays five-year jail term for human traffickers

The Senate has approved a five-year jail term and a minimum fine of N1 million for anyone found guilty of human trafficking.
This was sequel to the consideration and approval of the recommendations of its Committee on Judiciary, on the Trafficking in Persons Prohibition Act 2003.
The report was presented on Wednesday at plenary by the Chairman of the Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, Senator Umaru Dahiru, who explained the importance of the Bill.
Stressing the importance of the bill, the Chairman Senate Committee on Power, Senator Phillip Aduda, noted that the two-year jail term provided by the former Act was not stringent enough for such a crime as grievous as human trafficking.
According to Aduda, the prevalent cases of baby factories in parts of the country made it imperative for parliament to come up with stiffer punishment to curb the trend, which has even taken an international dimension.
Aduda said: “If you look at the cases of the various baby making factories in some parts of the country like Enugu and Kogi, you will be shocked that some people will just keep women, get them pregnant and sell the babies.
“Apart from that child trafficking and indeed trafficking is something very serious.
“In the world over, it is being taken very seriously.
“This is a form of slavery, which should not happen in modern day Nigeria and indeed in the world.
“For somebody to buy a ticket of N100,000 or N1 million just to traffic somebody tells you that it is a very costly venture.
“As such, those who are caught doing it should be made to be pay very serious money and the penalty should be stiffer.
“If for instance you ask someone to pay just N250,000 for trafficking, it is too cheap because the person may just pay easily.
“It is the same thing when you say two years in jail.
“The person may just look at it and agree because he is sure to be out in just two years.
“But if you put the penalty and they are very stiff, people will be discouraged.
“They will think of the implications of spending five years in jail and they won’t do it.
“To my mind, the penalty we have given are stiff enough.
“That is not less than five years or N1 million, one million, depending on the discretion of the judge.”