For years the Nigerian sex trade in Italy has been controlled by madams through an extensive network of women, often ordering them on demand from their home country. Madams are reportedly often cruel and violent, inflicting physical and psychological harm on the women they’ve trafficked.
The women are financially and psychologically indebted to their madams by promises made through voodoo and juju ceremonial rites they undergo before leaving Nigeria. They’re threatened with harm to their families should they fail to repay their madams for the costs incurred in organising their journeys to Europe. When the Oba (king) of Benin City annulled these religious contracts in 2018, the trafficking of women persisted, and the ceremonies went ‘underground’; and women in Italy started leaving their madams.
But left without their madams’ protection, they’ve had to turn elsewhere, and have been lured by promises of security by the Nigerian mafia in Italy. And now instead of working for madams, they continue sex work for the Nigerian criminal networks.
Nigerian criminals have established themselves in various Italian cities including Turin, Palermo and Castel Volturo. It’s estimated that €75 million, mainly generated from sex and drug trafficking, was transferred by the Nigerian mafia from Italy to Nigeria in 2018.
The International Organization for Migration says out of the 18 185 Nigerians who arrived in Italy in 2017, 5 425 were women. Roughly 80% of Nigerian female migrants, many of whom are underage, are at risk of being trafficked for sexual exploitation.
Many leave Nigeria due to limited economic prospects. Some are lured to Europe with the promise of a job which, on arrival, turns out to be sex labour. This sex work is a means to pay off the debt contracted for their journey, often amounting to tens of thousands of Euros. Others become enslaved by sex traffickers while travelling. Sometimes parents willingly send their daughters to Europe knowing they are entering the sex trade.
In the past, Nigerian women were flown to the United Kingdom, Spain, and Italy with fake documents. Clamp downs by law enforcement agencies have resulted in sex traffickers using more complicated land and sea routes. One of these is through Libya, involving Libyan militias and the Nigerian mafia, as well as criminals from Niger and Libya’s Tubu and Tuareg tribes. Once in Libya, Nigerian women are often sold to local militias, forced into sex slavery, before finally reaching Italy.
This journey often takes years due to the women becoming stranded in different countries along the way. The violence and risks have not deterred women from undertaking this journey.
The presence of the Nigerian mafia in Italy is a win-win deal for criminal networks in both countries. Over the years the Italian mafia have entered into what Essex University criminology expert Anna Sergi calls a ‘submersion’ mode by concentrating on more licit activities. The Camorra Mafia in Castel Volturno take a financial share of the sex trafficking sector controlled by the Nigerian mafia. In this way the Italian mafia access the Nigerian diaspora network to carry out illegal profit-making activities.
Sergi explains that Nigerian groups in turn require the sanction of the Sicilian mafia to conduct their illegal activities in Italy. The Italian mafia – short of members on the street – need the manpower of their Nigerian counterparts. Benefits flow both ways for the criminals, yet violence and risk continue for the women.
Sex trafficking from Nigeria is an international crime: different nationalities and jurisdictions make up the criminal value chain, from luring girls and women to ensuring exit and passage to Italy. Curbing this requires greater regional and international cooperation as provided in the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons – including between Italian, and other European, police and Nigerian authorities.
To date the response seems to be erratic. Often, Nigerian law enforcement agents collude with traffickers, providing them with foreign documents and facilitating border crossings. They can also be reluctant to investigate such crimes, unless they received a bribe.
Benin City in Edo State is the hub of human trafficking out of Nigeria. In 2018, after concerted civil society effort, the Edo State Trafficking in Persons Prohibition Law provided a legal and institutional framework for the prohibition, prevention, detection, prosecution and punishment of human trafficking and related offences in Edo State. This is a significant step in preventing and controlling human trafficking, including women for sex work.
Penalties include a minimum of five years’ imprisonment and a fine of ₦1 million (US$2 625) for sex and labour trafficking offences. This law is an important framework to enable effective criminal justice responses. Its success needs more than law enforcement though.
Raising awareness of trafficking as slavery as part of ongoing advocacy to prevent and protect women at the local level is equally important, as Imuetinyan Obarisiagbon and Uwaifo Ijegbai point out.
Added to this, the role of middlemen (‘enablers’) between Nigeria and Europe is largely unknown, and seems to be underestimated, yet they are the ones attracting young girls with hollow promises. It is here that the transnational elements dominate and require regional efforts from the criminal justice sector.
As mentioned, turning the tide is going to take more than a response focussed on the criminal justice sector. Religious and cultural beliefs continue to be powerful. Nosakhare Erhunmwunsee, a pastor from Benin City who lived in Turin from 2003 to 2012, told ENACT that traffickers have simply ignored the Oba’s declaration to annul the juju ceremonies. They see this as a normal business and the women they bring to Europe as their income. And so the rituals continue.
Religious and traditional leaders play a significant role in providing accurate information. Refusing to conduct such ceremonies would contribute to changing perspectives of the false promises of middlemen.
The transnational and networked nature of this criminal activity means all stakeholders need to work together. State agencies and civil society groups such as the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), religious leaders, police and communities are all important players in preventing trafficking, disrupting networks, and re-integrating returning women from Italy.
Finally, the attraction of Europe continues to be strong enough for young women to risk a lot. Altering this pull will require home-grown prospects that are also attractive. These include education and employment opportunities, and access to finances for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises for Nigerians. Governments can use these lures to increase home-grown futures.
Abdelkader Abderrahmane, Senior Researcher, West Africa Regional Organised Crime Observatory, ENACT
