Worried by the rising cases of human trafficking, scores of people recently took to the main streets of the Edo State capital of Benin City to kick against the scourge.
The road walkers who included officials of the National Agency Against Prohibition in Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and members of the civil society chanted songs against human trafficking.
Led by Sister Helen Oneya, the programme coordinator of the Committee for the Support of Dignity of Women, the walkers who were armed with placards and banners with different inscriptions, denouncing human trafficking, trekked though Igbesamwan, Akpakpava, downtown Ring Road, Sapele Road and Reservation Road for about a kilometre before terminating at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Press Centre, where they were received by the Edo State Council chairman, Comrade Festus Alenkhe.
The coordinator of the march, Sister Helen Oneya said that the feast which is celebrated by the Catholic Church all over the world was to commemorate the life of St. Josephine Bakhita, the patroness saint of anti-human trafficking from Sudan, a victim of human trafficking, who was canonized by the Catholic Church in 2000 due to her stand against the devilish act.
Sister Oneya said that Miss Bakhita was trafficked and sold to different slave masters until she ended up in Italy, where she was subjected to the worst form of slave labour by her traffickers and eventually ended up as a nun, adding that activities marking the event was supposed to have held on February 8 but had to be postponed.
She said that among others, the day is also set aside to pray for the victims of human trafficking and also create awareness of the scourge.
Sister Oneya said: "The programme started on February 4 in Rome. Everyday, there was a programme mapped out to create awareness and support people who are trafficked. It's a programme of organized crime. The group works with NAPTIP and members of the civil society to make it more effective."
Ms Doris Ogbeifun of the Society of Empowered Youths Development said that she took part in the road walk to lend her voice against human trafficking and ensure that Edo State becomes a free zone where young people can strive to reach their potentials without being exploited by these obnoxious human traffickers.
A human rights activist, Comrade Solomon Igiogbe said that the advocacy was to create awareness and ensure that what had become a norm in Edo State is reduced, if not totally eradicated.
Sounding upbeat, he said that the collective work so far in canvassing and advocacy has helped a lot in reducing human trafficking and irregular migration in the Heartbeat of the Nation State.
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