Welcome to the panic room
Experts express worry as poverty leads to more human trafficking cases in Nigeria
Good morning, Big Brains. I hope your weekend was as exciting as mine. I didn’t exactly do anything interesting but a good friend of mine bought me two books and one of them, Attached, sparked joy in me and took me out of my reading slump. I also had an amazing time in church yesterday and treated myself to two plates of Sunday rice. How are you sparking joy this week? Send me your responses to the week’s big question and I’ll be spotlighting my favourite responses.
- Margaret
Word count: ~1,100
Reading time ~4 mins
This Week’s Big Question - “What do you do to spark joy when life gets too much?” Share your responses with us and if we think it’s fun enough, we’ll feature it in the newsletter :) so be on the lookout.
Let’s get into the big news you missed during the weekend:
Underaged Nigerian girls rescued from traffickers in Ghana
Senior lawyers say governors should have a say in setting minimum wage
More Nigerian writers receive honorary recognition from President Tinubu
The Big Deal
Underaged Nigerian girls rescued from traffickers in Ghana
Starting off with news that can spark some much needed joy on a Monday morning, over 10 Nigerian teenage girls were rescued from the hands of traffickers in Ghana over the weekend. These girls, who are all under 18, were reportedly tricked into leaving Nigeria by a Ghanaian man who has now been arrested and is expected to appear in court soon.
According to Abike Dabiri, the Chairperson of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), we have the commission to thank for the return of the girls. She also added that if the girls were not rescued, they would have been forced to become sex workers against their wish in Ghana.
With video of the underaged girls making rounds on social media, Abike has put out a public call to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) to address the case.
According to her, “The culprit will be charged to court in Ghana next week and arrangements are being made to bring the rescued girls back to Nigeria.”
Why is this a big deal?
Prof. Joy Ezeilo, a former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, shared some disturbing insights from her active service between 2008 and 2014. During this period, she met Nigerians who had been trafficked or were living as irregular migrants in nearly 100 countries while on global assignment.
"In Africa, one in every four trafficked persons is Nigerian, making the country the most affected by trafficking. This issue remains prevalent in all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The Edo state was once considered the epicentre of trafficking in persons, but that is no longer the case," she said.
"Nigerian women, children, and men are vulnerable to transnational or cross-border human trafficking, primarily to Europe and Africa, as well as to other parts of the world, including Asia and the Americas. Human trafficking knows no borders," she added.
She also mentioned that trafficking is expected to get worse because of increasing poverty, unemployment, inequality, gender-based violence, lack of access to education, ignorance, conflicts, and displacement.
Ezeilo worries about the safety of the girl child and women in Nigeria and we should all be worried.
Senior lawyers say governors should have a say in setting minimum wage
Like a Tyler Perry movie, there’s another plot twist in the new minimum wage drama and the 36 governors in Nigeria are the main characters this time.
As you already know, the federal government is currently proposing a ₦60,000 minimum wage but the governors, who spent over ₦900 billion on refreshments in only 3 months, are claiming that the proposed amount is not sustainable.
In the unfolding drama, senior lawyers are taking the role of supporting acts as they argue that governors should have a say in the negotiations.
Right now, the minimum wage is decided by the federal government, but these lawyers think it should be more flexible.
The 1999 Constitution says the National Assembly has the power to set a national minimum wage. But lawyers like Mike Ozekhome, Joseph Nwobike, Ebun Adegboruwa, John Baiyesea, Ahmed Raji, and Dayo Akinlaja believe that because Nigeria is a federation, each state should be able to set its own minimum wage based on what it can afford.
On the other side, lawyers like Femi Falana, Moses Ebute, and Abiodun Olatunji support the motion that only the National Assembly should set the minimum wage for the entire country
Adegboruwa insists that the federal government shouldn’t decide the minimum wage for the states. Nwobike added that states should have the freedom to negotiate their own agreements with labour unions, insisting that state governments are independent and should make their own deals with workers.
Baiyesea pointed out that richer states like Lagos, Kano, and Rivers should not have to pay the same minimum wage as poorer states like Kwara, Ekiti, Niger, and Zamfara.
In plain English, these senior lawyers are calling for a system where each state can set its own minimum wage based on its financial situation.
What’s new?
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have made it clear that they are not buying whatever the Nigeria Governors’ Forum is trying to sell by saying that most states can't pay a minimum wage of ₦60,000. They see this as an unfair excuse. They have also rejected the initial ₦62,000 offer and are now demanding ₦250,000 as new minimum wage. Safe to say that the drama continues.
More Nigerian writers receive honorary recognition from President Tinubu
Nigerian writers are finally getting their flowers and we love to see it. Last week, we reported that Wole Soyinka now has a road named after him. That decision has inspired President Tinubu to honour the works of two other literary legends in Nigeria.
On Saturday, the president named roads in the Guzape District Lot II of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) after Chinua Achebe and John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo.
Although these two brilliant writers have passed away, their works are still relevant today. Known for evergreen stories like Arrow of God and Things Fall Apart that are only hated by people with questionable taste, Chinua Achebe was born on November 16, 1930 and passed away on March 21, 2013.
JP Clark who died in October 2020 was a Nigerian poet and playwright best known for classic poems like Abiku and The Casualties.
We hope the president’s list of writers to honour grows longer until writers like Chimamanda Adichie (who The Big Daily is definitely not rooting for because she is Margaret’s favourite author) get their flowers roads too.
The Big Picks
We’ll Stop Hotels From Lodging Underage Girls – Minister: The Ministry of Women Affairs has set plans in place to stop hotels in the country from lodging underage girls.
Israel Rescues Four Gaza Hostages During Operation: Israel announced its forces rescued four hostages on Saturday from a Gaza refugee camp in an operation that left 210 Palestinians dead and hundreds wounded.
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