Court jails teenager for human trafficking

A Federal High Court sitting in Makurdi, Benue State, has sentenced 18-year-old Awua Mzehemen to two years imprisonment for human trafficking.

He was convicted alongside a 40-year-old woman, Mbaikpeveyol Pius, upon their arraignment by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) for recruiting three young men aged between 20 and 21 years for exploitative labour.

The young men were deceitfully recruited by Mzehemen under the guise of getting a salaried job for them in a shop in Oyo State but that upon reaching Oyo, the victims were forced to work in a farm belonging to Mbaikpeveyol and hired out to work on other farms while Mbaikpeveyol collected their payments.

Their attempts to escape the exploitative environment were thwarted by the convicts twice, before they managed to alert the police, which subsequently got NAPTIP involved in the case.

The prosecution argued that the act was contrary to Section 13(2)(b) of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015, as it amounts to exploitative labour.

Delivering judgment after the convicts pleaded guilty to the charge, the presiding judge, Justice Dikko Hassan, summarily convicted and sentenced them to two years imprisonment with an option of fine of N150,000 each.

The NAPTIP, Director-General of Dame Julie OkahDonli, reacting to the news commended the police for effective partnership in the rescue and transfer of the victims. She used to opportunity to warn employers against paying the wages of their employees to a third party or an agent.

“This is exploitative and fuels human trafficking. Every worker deserves to be paid his or her agreed wages directly; paying to another person who will likely pay the worker a fraction of the wages, or not at all, is akin to slavery and it an offence,” she said.