The exposure of Nigerian women and girls to human trafficking: an analysis of the construction of their vulnerability to severe exploitation.

ABSTRACT Human trafficking is a heinous crime and a severe violation of human rights that concern global attention. Nigeria is not exempted from this menace especially pertaining to the recognized vulnerable groups who are sporadically increasing with an influx of internally displaced persons owing to the internal issues in Nigeria (EC, 2022; ReliefWeb, 2020). Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa with a population of over 206,139,589 (The World Bank, 2022). Human trafficking is the third-largest crime in Nigeria, Nigeria ranks number 32 of 167 in the countries with the highest number of trafficked persons, 76.6% of the total number of trafficked persons are female between ages 16-25 (Dataphyte, 2020). This study focuses on the analysis of factors that consistently increases women and girls’ vulnerabilities and forms of severe exploitation in sexual, domestic, and criminal activities in Nigeria. The perspective of this research is not gender-based rather it is a vulnerability-based approach emphasizing that women and girls are more prone to being trafficked. Although Nigeria is a signatory to international instruments regarding women, girls, and children’s rights, the constitution limits their application to domestic national laws because of the constitutional clause (Eniola, 2018). Women represent about half of Nigeria’s population, yet occupy less than 10 percent of political positions (Allanana, 2013, p. 116). This limits their ability to influence the domestication of international instruments that protect their rights. This research seeks to analyze the concept of vulnerability and the underlying factors exposing Nigerian women and girls’ vulnerabilities to trafficking. Nigeria is faced with issues threatening the strategy of the state to eliminate trafficking such as the Boko Haram attacks, Fulani herdsmen crises, kidnappings, and insecurity. Consequently, national and international intervention is premised on ensuring the protection of victims of trafficking, punishing perpetrators, and guaranteeing fundamental human rights. It is recommended that government should adopt preventive measures that curb the exposure of women and girls to vulnerabilities or risk of trafficking and severe exploitation. The qualitative vulnerability research methodology is adopted to better address the complexity of trafficking of women and girls in Nigeria. This method explores the triggering factors of this particular gender to trafficking and other severe exploitation. This research mainly depends on secondary literature sources such as reports, journals, books, news, magazines, and the internet. Keywords: women and girls, poverty, vulnerability, exploitation, human trafficking, and Nigeria.