Gov. Godwin Obaseki of Edo has mandated the task force on Human Trafficking and Illegal Migration to ensure total eradication of human trafficking and illegal migration in the state by the year 2020.
The Senior Special Adviser to the Governor on Human Trafficking and Illegal Migration, Mr Solomon Okoduwa, disclosed this during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Benin on Monday.
Okoduwa also said that the task force which the governor set up in 2017, had been mandated, in the meantime, to reduce the menace by 50 per cent, before December.
The Governor’s aide was reacting to the signing of the Anti-human trafficking law, by the Obaseki in Abuja last Wednesday.
He said the formal signing of the law which was recently passed by the State House of Assembly, would send a strong message to the traffickers that “it is no longer business as usual’’.
Okoduwa said the signing of the law revealed the commitment of the state government to stemming the scourge.
“It is a warning to both the traffickers and their managers that when caught, they will be made to face the music, according to the law.
“We will see that the law works, to the letter. The governor has made it abundantly clear that there will be no mercy to whoever is caught going against the law.
“This law will also strengthen the task force to adequately deal with the menace of human trafficking.
“The Governor’s mandate is to completely eradicate human trafficking by 2020, and to reduce it by 50 per cent by the end of year.
“To me, the mandate is clear and it is achievable as we remain on course towards the realisation,’’ Okoduwa stressed.
He said that the commitment of the governor was a pointer that human trafficking no longer had a place in Edo.
According to Okoduwa, the Benin Monarch, Oba Ewuare II and the government have in their actions at various times demonstrated that the “business’’ no longer had a place in the state.
“The Oba has condemned it by publicly placing a curse on traffickers in the state, while the government also condemned it in strong terms by setting up a task force against the menace.’’
NAN reports that Edo had been described as a hub for human trafficking and illegal migration as the state accounted for more than half of returnees from Libya within the last eight months.
According to Okoduwa, the returnees from Libya in Edo are no fewer than 3,400 indigenes. (NAN)