Illegal migration is a growing concern for many families in Edo State and Nigeria in general, how is your agency tackling this issue?
This is definitely a growing concern among our people and government. We are stepping up massive campaigns and sensitisation among young and vulnerable people with the right message. For example, there was a popular lady in Irrua community who was trafficked to Libya, her traffickers demanded N1.5m from her. When the information got to my office, our team swung into action and arrested the traffickers, collaborators and facilitators. We ensured that they paid her flight ticket back to Edo State where the victim was taken to Central Hospital for medical attention and the perpetrator was held to face prosecution. As we speak, she is going through a reintegration process. We have handled several matters. We also have the issue of a 14 year-old-Iyonosa who was sold to Burkina Faso and after spending five years there, she was able to reach out to a blogger that blew it up, that issue came to the attention of the state governor and he directed the agency to ensure she was rescued. She was rescued within 20 hours, returned to Edo and rehabilitated. Also recently, there was news that a guy who was allegedly trafficked to Burkina Faso managed to buy himself a motorcycle. He was poisoned because of his jealous friends. We were able to track and trace him to his family. The governor provided all the resources needed. I went to Burkina Faso to bring him back and he is being treated right now.
What would you say are some of the root causes of illegal migration and human trafficking?
One thing that is very important in the fight against these issues is sensitisation and awareness campaigns among the people. Some people in the diaspora save money from January to December, all in a bid to come back home to show off by spending lavishly and painting a wrong impression of themselves. They spend money they don’t have in a short time, all in a bid to impress people, that is fake life. So, after spending all that money, we go back abroad broke to start all over again. Our people in Nigeria don’t know that we don’t have that much, it’s just an illusion. We have been able to disabuse the minds of our people that all that glitters is not gold. Another reason, just like I earlier mentioned, is parental greed. Others migrate from rural areas to cities may be to enjoy the infrastructure in the city. And that is why today, you see Governor Monday Okpeholo building infrastructure like the flyovers, establishing the Edo Line transport company to create jobs for youths, these are all employment creation agencies and will keep our youths back home.
In other to check illegal migration, what initiatives have you introduced in collaboration with international organisations to make legal migration processes smoother?
The initiative for smoother migration abroad was to bring all embassies in Nigeria under one roof in the EU House sometime in April 2025 where we had about 17 missions including those of the US, UK, Canada and others in attendance. During the engagement, I told them, you are telling us to promote safe migration, are you actually promoting safe migration? That was my first question to them, because they were surprised. I told them, for example, Nigeria is a member of the Commonwealth. We are paying our dues, instead they keep increasing our cost of traveling to the UK. For example, a flight to the UK takes about six to seven hours and costs about N2 million for ticket. The last time I flew from Greece to London it cost $25 to buy a ticket which was for a hour-flight. How come our flight ticket is so expensive? I told them, the law we have in the United States is as good as what they have in the Philippines in terms of migration policy because I have studied what they have. They send people to Philippines to bring workers, caregivers and the rest, how come they are not giving us slots to bring people to the United States or other countries? Again, every year they send $1 billion to Libya, $1 billion to Tunisia. I told them, you are very good in rehabilitating bad societies, why don’t you put all this money in the prevention measure? They told me, okay, how? I was able to give them a clue on that as well. We are doing everything possible to manage the issue of illegal migration. The governor is also creating that environment where people can be meaningfully engaged because we have a huge number of jobless indigenes. We need such resources because nobody can fix Edo more better than us.
Edo can be said to be the epicenter of human trafficking and illegal migration in Nigeria, just like other states have their own peculiar challenges. What are you doing to address this perception?
Before now, Edo women had been victimised. They call them the oldest women on the streets. You know what I’m talking about. So, everybody has this ideology that they are the oldest women on the streets. During our proper feasibility studies, I discovered that they are not the oldest women on the streets. Rather, what we discovered was that women from other states troop into the state, making Edo the hub. I can boldly tell you that most of the women we have arrested, majority are not from Edo State, what you see are people from other states.
So, we’ve been able to change the narrative with the support and cooperation of Governor Monday Okpeholo. Sadly, studies we have conducted showed that some people in Edo believe that the only way to make it is to travel abroad, and that is why you see that some parents are involved in trafficking their children abroad through dangerous paths.
How are foreign embassies addressing these issues?
The embassies have been very supportive in terms of collaboration. Last weekend, we received a deputy chief of mission to the Finnish embassy, we are also working with the Canadian and Italian embassies and that was why I said earlier that we cannot succeed in isolation.
To what extent have curses placed on traffickers by the Oba of Benin some years ago helped in reducing the menace?
Our revered and respected monarch has done well in the area of fighting human trafficking and illegal migration. The legacy, the foundation he built is what we are standing on today. He laid the legacy.
He started the fight because he knew the dangers. His royal majesty had worked as an ambassador, has seen it all around the world how it endangers our people. I want to tell you that the foundation he laid is working and very effective. We have a case of a particular native doctor who specialises in pressurising minors to swear an oath to be trafficked. As we speak, he is now in Oko prison. Our Oba has done quite well in that regard.
What would you describe as the biggest challenges in the fight against illegal migration?
One of the biggest challenges we’ve faced is that of corruption. When you fight corruption, corruption fights back. During the course of fighting human trafficking, some shenanigans on the streets tried as much as possible to discredit us because they had benefited from the illicit business by accusing our agency of extortion. We are encouraging victims and the public to speak up and give our agency information because people are afraid to come out and speak up.
Lastly, what is your take on the argument in certain quarters that prostitution should be legalised?
We are Africans and custodians of our tradition. We have our dignity. For me, it is only the federal government that can make such laws. Nobody wants to see his or her sister selling her body on the street. I think the status quo should remain and not to be legalised.
What are the priorities you set out to achieve as director general of the agency?
Since assumption, we were able to design the mission and vision statement of this agency as the pioneer DG. Before now, you know, we only had the Edo State Task Force Against Human Trafficking. And that law was repealed in 2024 and evolved into the migration agency we have today. As the pioneer DG, we were able to reduce human trafficking and irregular migration to the barest minimum, while the vision is to promote safe migration. For example, many people think that traveling abroad is about buying visas. We’ve been able to sensitise them that visas are not bought, they are processed, not purchased. We have had several meetings like collaborating with NGOs on trafficking. We have also invited the brothel owners association in the state to educate them on the dangers of human trafficking.
We equally reached out to civil society organisations, faith-based organisations, mosques, churches and others to collaborate. And during this collaboration, we designed the SQ model. The SQ model is, when they see a case relating to human trafficking, see it, say it, sort it. We equally developed the ROQ model. For example, we had a case this morning of some Libyan returnees. They are within the environment, one of the ladies said the parents rejected her because she came back empty-handed. At the same time, she came with a baby. Under the ROQ model, it now beholds on us to rehabilitate and reintegrate her into society with all the support she needs through skills acquisition programmes provided by the government.
