A new report by the U.S. Department of State says “internal trafficking” is prevalent, with Nigerian perpetrators recruiting victims from rural areas, especially the country’s southern regions, for exploitation in sex trafficking and forced labour in domestic work in cities such as Abeokuta, Calabar, Ibadan, Kaduna, Kano, Lagos, and Port Harcourt. 

In the U.S. ‘2023 Trafficking in Persons Report: Nigeria’, the American government revealed that “traffickers exploit victims in sex trafficking, as well as in forced and bonded labour” in street vending, domestic service, artisanal mining, stone quarrying, agriculture, textile manufacturing, begging, and in the tie-dye sector in the North-West and South-West of the country. 

The report stated that the “most vulnerable” to the trafficking business include people from rural communities, IDPs, irregular migrants, those working in the informal economy, and those with disabilities. 

Noting that trafficking victims “originate from throughout Nigeria,” the State Department pointed out that in previous years Edo, Delta, Kano, Abia, Ebonyi, Imo, and Kogi were among the most common origin states.

“During a previous reporting period, an international organisation noted cases of labour trafficking involving domestic workers to Türkiye, the Middle East, and Gulf states increased,” said the U.S. government, revealing that “reports of men coerced into sex trafficking and drug running to Europe also increased.” 

The report cited experts who stated that traffickers “recruit victims directly from asylum or migrant reception centres in Italy and elsewhere in Europe.” Ebonyi, Imo, and Kogi were among the most common origin states.  

According to the report, extreme poverty, lack of economic opportunity, corruption, and insecurity throughout the country, including climate change-related pressure to migrate, increased Nigerians’ vulnerability to trafficking. 

“Highly-organised criminal groups, sometimes linked to Nigerian cult organisations or confraternities, are responsible for most sex trafficking to Europe,” it added. “Extreme flooding in the north and southeast has exacerbated already challenging conditions, placing residents at increased risk of trafficking.” 

While observing that criminal elements recruit foreigners for labour trafficking within the country, the report detailed that traffickers exploit children in forced labour, including in granite quarries and artisanal mines, construction, agriculture, transportation, street hawking and begging, and domestic service.