THE National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in a recent report has revealed that a total of 1401 persons (1387 females and 14 males) were trafficked out of the country for prostitution returned from the Benin Republic, Togo, Ghana, and the Republic of Niger.
According to the Bureau in a demographic report released on its official website, the female folks were predominantly trafficked for prostitution over the years.
It explained that most Nigerians that were trafficked out of the country returned to the country from the Benin Republic in 2017 with 40 victims, followed by Togo with 32 persons, while the returnees from Ghana and the Niger Republic were six each.
The NBS noted that in 2018, Benin Republic has the highest-trafficked persons that returned with 27, followed by Ghana with 19 but stressed that the reported cases of trafficking in persons for prostitution was more in 2017 with 902 females and 12 males followed by 485 for females and 2 males in 2019.
It added that the lowest reported cases for trafficking in persons for prostitution was recorded in 2016.
Explaining that the number of trafficked persons increased from 138 to 163 in 2017 with 18.11 percent, while in 2018, the number dropped drastically to 40 (76.19 percent) and increased to 65 (62.5 percent) in 2019, the Bureau maintained that both males and females are victims of trafficking in persons over the years.
The NBS further noted that the highest number of reported cases of trafficking in persons was in 2017 with a total of 1,424, stressing that the females aged 18 years and above were higher than the males with a total number of 1,001.
“The same trend was recorded in 2018 with the females aged 18 years and above having the highest number of victims of trafficking in person compared to the male counterpart.
“In 2019, the number of reported cases reduced slightly but the females aged 18 years and above were still the major victims of trafficking in persons. Generally, more trafficked persons returned in 2017 than in 2018 and 2019.
“The incidence of trafficked persons under the period of review shows that the highest cases were recorded in 2017 with 1,261, while the numbers of females were higher than males in 2016 and 2017, 2018 and 2019 with 610, 935, 633, and 635 respectively,” the report read in parts.
