Modern slavery is despicable and shames Nigeria
How civilised is Nigeria? That’s the question I have been exploring in this column over the past two weeks. First, two weeks ago, I looked at the politico-governance context, and argued that as Nigeria hasn’t fully embraced the legal pillars of civilisation – the rule of law, natural justice, independent judiciary etc – its claim to civilisation is tenuous. Then, last week, I considered the economic dimension, based on Adam Smith’s theory of the four stages of human society, of which the lowest are societies of hunters and fishermen, followed by societies of shepherds, then societies of agriculturalists and, finally, commercial societies. The last stage represents the advanced state of human society, and civilisation.
But a commercial or wealth-creating society is based on free market or a market economy, and requires different ethos, policy styles and legal foundations from the lower stages of human society. However, as I argued last week, the legal foundations and policy underpinnings of Nigeria’s economy fall short of fully supporting free markets. A country where intellectual property rights are not respected, the sanctity of contracts is not guaranteed, competition law does not exist, and the government freely interferes in the markets, would not qualify as a commercial or wealth-creating society in Adam Smith’s book, and would be deemed uncivilised rather than civilised!
This week, I want to extend the civilisation discussion by looking at its social dimension. Now, to be sure, while the political and economic dimensions of civilisation may seem abstract, the social context is not; it’s real, very real! It is about how a society treats its people. As the economic historian Niall Ferguson puts it in his book, Civilisation, “The success of a civilisation is measured not just by its aesthetic achievements but also, and surely more importantly, in the duration and quality of life of its citizens”. This mirrors Aristotle’s view that the primary purpose of politics, of government, is “the actualisation of human flourishing, the pursuit of the higher good of living”. Indeed, the pursuit of happiness was the reason why the United Nations urged countries to measure the wellbeing of their people and use this to guide their public policy.
Of course, in Nigeria, governments don’t measure the wellbeing of the people, let alone make it the goal of public policy. Thomas Jefferson said that “The care of human life and happiness is the only legitimate object of good government”. But there is a perpetual breach of this social contract in Nigeria. Surely, no country can claim to make the quality of life of its citizens the focus of its public policy if its state governments don’t pay workers’ salaries for several months, the minimum wage is a meagre N18,000 per month, while federal legislators earn a whopping N8 million per year, and joblessness, poverty and inequality are allowed to skyrocket. That, sadly, is the appalling state of affair in Nigeria.
But civilisation isn’t just about how a government treats its citizens; it’s also about how citizens treat one another. This is what makes the difference between civility and barbarism, between civilised people and barbarians. Unfortunately, man’s inhumanity to man, in the form of modern slavery, is now rampant in Nigeria.
Last week, a top British newspaper, The Sunday Times, published a story, captioned “Nigerian agents to snare slavers at UK airports”. According to the story, “Nigerian anti-trafficking officials have been posted at British airports to combat gangs trading human slaves”. The phenomenon of human slavery in Nigeria is frequently reported in western media, of course. But it beggars belief that the matter has reached such an alarming scale that the British government has resorted to recruiting and sending officials of Nigeria’s National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (Naptip) to UK airports to help stop Nigerians selling other Nigerians as slaves to Britain and, indeed, Europe. Julie Okah-Donli, director-general of Naptip, was quoted as saying to the human traffickers: “If we miss you here in Nigeria at departure, we will not miss you as you arrive at your destination”. Although Naptip has “tip” in its acronym, the agency is certainly not getting enough tips to stem this hugely embarrassing and widespread problem at home! Or is it because it is napping, given that there is also “nap” in its acronym?!
Sadly, Nigeria has now acquired a terrible global reputation as a major slave trader. Human trafficking from Nigeria to Europe increased 8-fold between 2014 and 2016. According to the 2016 Global Slavery Index, Nigeria came second, after Albania, for trafficking humans to the UK. In 2015, the UK government introduced the Modern Slavery Act, which raised the sentence for slavery and exploitation offences from 14 years to life. The act also created the office of independent anti-slavery commissioner. But as soon as the first anti-slavery tsar, Keven Hyland, took office, he declared Nigerian trafficking as his “top priority”. He said it was “deeply concerning” that hundreds of Nigerians were brought into the UK every year for prostitution, domestic servitude and forced labour.
But how did Nigeria descend to such ignominious state? Well, the first reason is the lack of humanity and, dare I say the fear of God, in some Nigerians. There is no point putting the proximate blame on poverty, greed, government failure or international rings, although all of these are powerful factors. As Shakespeare wrote in Julius Caesar, “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.”The German philosopher Samuel von Pufendorf also wrote in 1673 that “More inhumanity has been done by man himself than any other of nature’s causes.”Indeed, it is the dehumanisation of Nigerians by fellow Nigerians that has given rise to the despicable trade in human beings.
Of course, let’s not be naïve about this. Human slavery is also driven by economic factors. As the UK anti-slavery commissioner pointed out, the Nigerian slave traders “are earning a fortune trading in people lives”, which motivates them to look for more vulnerable Nigerians that they can trade as a commodity. But this is not without a historical precedent. In his book, Empire, Niall Ferguson said that “supplying slaves to Europeans and Arab traders was Africa’s biggest sources of income”, and, as a result, “Africans were simply capturing and selling one another”. Isn’t history repeating itself? There must certainly be a great concern that economic decline, growing population and rising poverty in Nigeria, coupled with the insatiable demand for slave workers in Europe, could lead to a huge increase in the despicable trade in human trading in Nigeria. The economics of poverty and greed is a major driver that can’t be ignored!
But this is where the government is culpable. First, it has failed to generate economic prosperity and ensure social justice to improve the wellbeing of ordinary Nigerians, who are being driven by poverty into the hands of human traffickers. Secondly, it has failed to protect the weak and vulnerable from being exploited by the rich and powerful. Of course, like corruption, slavery is a clandestine crime. But despite the existence of Naptip, Nigeria has failed abysmally to tackle this scourge, due to chronic institutional deficiency and corruption. The human traffickers are criminal networks operating with impunity, but they can’t thrive without the ineffectiveness of Naptip and the collusion or connivance of corrupt law enforcement officers.
Yet, while this despicable act goes on, Nigeria’s image is suffering enormous damage globally. Nigeria has been known as a country of “419 scammers”, a “fantastically corrupt” nation, and now it is acquiring a reputation as a major slave trader! Sadly, all of this dwarfs the achievements of many Nigerians at home and abroad, and, indeed, tarnishes all of us!
So, back to my first question: How civilised is Nigeria? Well, after exploring this question in three successive articles, I would just say, in summary, that Nigeria’s failure to fully embrace the legal pillars of civilisation, its failure to adopt the legal foundations of free markets and its seeming ineptitude in tackling human slavery diminish its claim to civilisation!
Olu Fasan