Gov. Umahi moves to end human trafficking in Ebonyi

By Chukwuemeka Opara

Ebonyi State Governor David Umahi has on Friday, declared war against the inhuman act of picking house helps from Abakaliki and other parts of the state.

Umahi made the declaration in Abakaliki while inaugurating the state taskforce on human trafficking, courtesy the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and the International Organisation for Migration.

Dr Kelechi Igwe, the deputy governor who represented Umahi, said that the war against human trafficking was not physical but against “forces of darkness of those known and unknown’’

“Era of coming to Abakaliki and indeed, Ebonyi to pick up househelps is over and we are saying it with all dexterity in us.

“The present administration has stopped all sorts of inhuman treatment on our people and if anybody must come to take someone for any reason, the person must disclose fully what the person is going to do for him or her.

“This does not mean that people should not assist others but we are careful not to give out our people for inhuman activities in the name of househelp again,” he said.

He said that unscrupulous househelp racketeers have negated the true essence of offering assistance to others and converted such helps to inhuman treatment and personal gains.

“We take our minds to our primitive era when one of the sources of livelihood for some rural families was giving out innocent sons and daughters to serve as househelps.

“The kind gestures ordinarily should have been humanitarian services but were, however, negatively channelled with some of these innocent children converted to sex toys and objects of trade among others,” he said.

He noted that since assuming office in 2015, the state government fought such ugly trend by empowering the state’s citizens found on the streets of such as Aba, Lagos and Onitsha among others.

NAN