NIGERIA: CHILD TRAFFICKING IN OGUN STATE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 LAGOS 000300

SIPDIS

STATE FOR G/TIP
PASS GURNEY, LONDON AND NEARY, PARIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/06/2014
TAGS: PHUM PREL PINR SOCI SMIG KOCI NI BN
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: CHILD TRAFFICKING IN OGUN STATE

REF: 2003 COTONOU 1196

Classified By: Consul-General Robyn Hinson-Jones for reasons 1.5 (b) an

d (d)


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: On February 3 POLOFF visited quarry sites
in Ogun State where trafficked Beninese children had been
rescued in September and October 2003 (reftel). POLOFF was
accompanied by Bose Akinola of the NGO Voice of Women in
Africa and members of the Women's Consortium of Nigeria
(WOCON). The visit uncovered the grisly working conditions,
the lack of resources for NGOs and GON law enforcement
combating trafficking, and the reason why trafficking
persists in the region. END SUMMARY.

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PAINTING A PICTURE
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2. (U) Off the secondary road from the Ogun State capitol of
Abeokuta to the town of Eruwa and leading onward to Oyo
State, a series of dirt tracks crisscross the bush leading to
the illegal quarries that dot the landscape along the Oyan
River. The quarries, unlicensed by the GON, resemble a
poorly planned archaeological dig, but instead of scientists,
men and boys with pick axes methodically dig through a
36-inch layer of dirt to reach small rocks and boulders.
Strewn about, the rocks look more like a gardener's nuisance
than a profitable illegal venture that supplies gravel for
roads and stones for housing. Well-hidden by the thick
foliage separating it from the main road, each site is a
collection of wide holes dug in a meandering fashion with
layered edges in the earth that reach depths of only 4.5 feet.


3. (U) POLOFF came upon a new quarry site by following one
of the many 1.5 ton dump trucks as it passed through several
tollbooths unimpeded. As the vehicle passed, two children
ran off into the bush, while the six men stayed behind and
worked -- unfazed by their visitors. The men, Hausa from
Northern Nigeria, plunged their pick axes into the edge of
the carved hole several times, stooped over to pick up small
boulders with one hand and flung them into a small pile.
Behind them was a pile of fine silt, the remnants of sifted
loose dirt separated from the pebbles, which also formed a
large mound. This scene is repeated daily and nightly
throughout the Oyan River area.

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ON THE BACKS OF CHILDREN
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4. (U) One quarry site, near Ijaoulu village where 20
Beninese children were found last year, still evidenced the
poor working conditions and squalor in which they once lived.
Expansive in comparison to the site worked by the Hausa, the
Ijaoulu quarry had children as young as five working and
living at the site where Akinola said some children worked
there for three to four years without leaving. Tattered
clothes were strewn about and nearby were remnants of butcher
paper and plastic tarps used as bedding. Three largish,
blackened stones comprised a meager fire ring that was their
only means to cook food. Dried cassava root was left beside
the fire ring, evidence of a hasty departure.


5. (U) Akinola, who discovered most of the Beninese
children, explained that each child earned its trafficker 750
naira or $5.51 a day -- an exorbitant amount reflecting the
lucrative trade. Often the children's families received
small, lump sums for selling their children to traffickers.
However, the children rarely received any money from the
trafficker and were provided with limited food and often had
to find their own water. They were never given any clothing
or blankets. After the September and October raids, Akinola
said children are rarely seen working during the day.
Instead they hide in nearby villages sometimes reportedly
hiding crouched down in large, covered clay pots during the
day to avoid detection. The children leave for the quarries
at night.

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OPERATION MIDNIGHT
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6. (SBU) The NPF Anti-Trafficking Unit and the SSS have
informally created a task force called Operation Midnight.
Akinola, working with WOCON, identifies villages and quarries
with trafficked children, informs the task force, and guides
them to the site at night -- a service for which she has
received harassment and threats. It is through this work
that approximately 300 Beninese children have been rescued.
However, Akinola said the Ogun State government provides no
cooperation, surmising that many within the state government
are profiting from the illegal quarries. Employers of the
trafficked children were initially arrested, but later freed
after the traditional ruler of Abeokuta who pressed for their
release, accepted the employers' promises to end the use of
child labor.


7. (SBU) Despite the recognized good work, Akinola, WOCON,
the NPF, and SSS all are under-funded. The NPF
Anti-Trafficking Unit is housed in the corner of a building
in a police compound. The 20x10-foot room has two crude
picnic benches and tables adjoined to each other with two
warren-sized offices adjacent. Two anti-trafficking posters
supplied by NGOs provide the only decoration on the wall.
There is no telephone and because the director's personal
cell phone is with a company that does not have coverage in
Abeokuta, no one can contact the unit directly. Nor do they
have any communications equipment, office supplies,
handcuffs, or leg guards. The eight-man unit is short four
officers. Repeated requests for supplies from headquarters
in Abuja have not produced any results. Their jurisdiction
covers the Oyan River area of Ogun State, the hotbed of known
child trafficking activity in Southwestern Nigeria.

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PREVENTION EFFORTS
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8. (U) POLOFF also visited a child trafficking source and
destination village with WOCON, an organization that has been
doing fieldwork in trafficking since 1997. Bara Orile is the
traditional seat of 73 neighboring villages in the Oyan River
area of Ogun State located near the quarry sites. The
village chief said Beninese children sometimes overnighted in
the village that also served as a residence for a Beninese
trafficker who was later extradited to Benin. Bara Orile's
own children are trafficked to Lagos and work as domestic
servants in the homes of the middle-class and the affluent.
The village's economy is depressed and the once vibrant cocoa
and cashew fields were abandoned with the rest of Nigeria's
agriculture during the oil boom. Cassava is the only crop
left. The village once had a secondary school, but it is
closed and the primary school appeared under-used. The
chief, who is charged by Ogun State with overseeing the 73
nearby villages, does not receive his salary.


9. (U) WOCON did a program assessment of the village and
will start a child trafficking awareness campaign and
cooperate with village elders to forcefully discourage the
practice. In addition, WOCON will press the state government
to pay the chief's salary and arrange for micro-credit loans
to purchase gari machines. Gari, a staple food made from
cassava, would quickly generate income for the village
located 15 kilometers outside of Abeokuta. In the long-term,
WOCON will attempt to rejuvenate cashew and cocoa production,
but helping hands may be hard to find given the village's
history with the more lucrative trafficking. WOCON has met
success with this dual approach: small-scale, directed
sustained economic development and building awareness for
child trafficking. Two other villages have successfully
generated profitable small-scale economic enterprises and its
elders and community leaders have disavowed trafficking,
chastising those who persist.

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HEADLINE GRABBER OR IMPASSIONED FIGHTER FOR THE CAUSE?
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10. (C) Mrs. Titi Abubakar, wife of the Vice President and
founder of the Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication
Foundation (WOTCLEF),has been active and vocal about her
measures to combat trafficking, generating national attention
to the issue. When Akinola notified WOTCLEF about the plight
of the Beninese children, the organization immediately
swooped in. Akinola claims that WOTCLEF promised monies to
her organization to recuperate her expenses as well as
pressing the NPF to provide much needed supplies to the
Abeokuta Anti-Trafficking Unit. These promises have not been
kept. In contrast, the Ogun State government gave 5
million-naira to WOTCLEF for its work in repatriating the
Beninese children. WOTCLEF also received a 10 million-naira
grant from the World Bank in 2003.


11. (C) It has been rumored that Mrs. Abubakar embezzles
from her organization. Mrs. Abubakar, along with 23 other
wives of prominent politicians, is a defendant in a suit
filed in Federal High Court in Abuja compelling her to
account for the funds that her organization has received.
The original suit was filed in Federal High Court in Lagos in
June 2003 and has been postponed until February 18 in the
Abuja court.
HINSON-JONES