US embassy cable - 04LAGOS300

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