Page 57 - Grundtvig International Secondary School Yearbook 2019

ARTICLE SEX SLAVERY, A THREAT

TO NIGERIA'S DEVELOPMENT

ould you want any woman or child you know, friend or foe to be a victim of something as
hideous as sex slavery? I am quite sure your answer is “No”. So why do we keep quiet and
Wlet our women and children suffer this way.

First, let's start by defining the term 'slavery'. According to the Oxford Dictionary, slavery is the state
of being a slave. A slave is a person who is owned by another person and is forced to work for his or her
owner by satisfying his or her owner's sexual needs and maybe that of others too.

Sexual slavery is a general occurrence amongst all races, but one thing among all these is the master-
to- slave, and victor-to-the vanquished relationship; sexual slavery is the coercing and baiting of a
person into sexual activities against his or her will. Sex trafficking, forced prostitution, child sex
tourism are common examples of sexual slavery, sex trafficking being the commonest amongst them.
Here, the victims are forced to be sex slaves.

Researches have proved that African countries, especially Nigeria, are major sources of trafficked
people in the world, if you take a closer look at the economic situation in Nigeria, you will see that
Nigeria's economy is deteriorating daily and this is seriously affecting the poor masses in the country.
The living condition in Nigeria, “The acclaimed Giant of Africa” is very harsh. Every year, thousands
of graduates are produced by universities and other educational institutions across the country without
any jobs for them. An economist would say that when the dependent ratio in a country is greater than
the independent ratio, there is a big economic crisis in that country. Nigeria is producing who are
dependent on their parents and relatives because of lack of job opportunities.

In 2017, over thirty-five Nigerian girls were caught trying to illegally cross the borders into different
countries. When they were interviewed and asked why they had tried doing that, most of them said
that they were deceived to go “overseas” to work while others said that they were forced to follow the
traffickers. Several analysts have concluded that 65%-70% of the women and children who are

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