Nigeria has largest number of enslaved people in SSA

A Global Slavery Index 2016, released on Tuesday, revealed “Nigeria has more enslaved people than any country in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).”

The survey, conducted in 167 countries across the world by Walk Free Foundation, anti-modern slavery organisation, reveals that there are 875,500 people living in slavery in Nigeria.

The survey says of the 45.8 million people living in slavery in the world, 13.6 percent (6,228,800) are in Africa.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (873,100 people) and Ethiopia (411,600 people) have the second and third largest numbers of people living in slavery SSA, respectively.

According to the survey, slavery in Nigeria takes the form of forced labour in the domestic sector. Forced marriages also account for the second highest form of slavery in the country, the report notes.

The report says conflict, economic crisis and environmental disaster are the major enablers of modern slavery in SSA.

For instance, the survey shows that the Boko Haram conflict in Northern Nigeria led to an increase of people living in slavery in Nigeria and other neighbouring countries like Chad and Cameroon.

The Islamist group has kidnapped thousands of people in the northeast region, most of them women and children who they use as sex slaves and put to forced labour.

“Modern slavery in the SSA was enabled by economic conditions, violent conflict and territorial displacement, in addition to widespread humanitarian and environmental crises,” according to the report.

“The escalation of violence in Nigeria following the Boko Haram conflict has had widespread effects on Nigeria and across the region, particularly in Cameroon where refugees fleeing conflict have sparked a humanitarian crisis.

“As of February 2016, 2.5 million people were displaced as a result of the conflict and 20,000 people have been killed. Conflict is also prevalent in Chad and Cameroon, where Boko Haram is also active in creating violent conflicts, and in recruiting young entrepreneurs through predatory loans.”

The report, which has been described as the most accurate up-to-date analysis of slavery in history, was arrived at after 42,000 interviews conducted in 53 languages, covering 44 percent of global population.

It revealed that there are 28 percent (10m) more people in slavery across the world than previously estimated. Modern slavery, it noted, takes the form of human trafficking, forced labour, debt bondage, forced or servile marriage or commercial sexual exploitation.

Globally, North Korea is the country with the “greatest prevalence of modern slavery, with 4.37 percent of its population estimated to be enslaved. It is also the country with the weakest government response in terms of actions taken to combat modern slavery,” the report showed.

In terms of absolute numbers, the report discovered that India has the highest with an estimated 18.35 million enslaved people, followed by China (3.39m), Pakistan (2.13m), Bangladesh (1.53m) and Uzbekistan (1.23m).

Combined, these five countries account for almost 58% of the world’s enslaved, or 26.6 million people.