Mariam Ashley Yusuf (MAY) Foundation, a non-governmental organisation with a mission to combat the scourge of human trafficking and sexual abuse in Nigeria, has revealed an action plan for its activities over the course of the next year.
The group expressed regret at the rising number of incidents of human trafficking across Nigerian borders in a statement over the weekend that was signed by the founder, Mariam Ashley Yusuf.
It divided the strategy into short, medium, and long-term goals, believing that doing so would amplify the fight against forced labour and sexual exploitation.
According to the MAY Foundation, one of the goals of this strategy is to broaden our network of affiliate organisations in the public and commercial sectors, both nationally and worldwide, including law enforcement organisations.
This goal, which is part of the short-term strategy, is to generate more technical assistance for the campaign from knowledgeable professionals across the nation and beyond.
The MAY Foundation’s medium-term goals include launching a comprehensive rural education campaign in Nigeria’s hinterland villages and increasing its presence on traditional and social media platforms, especially since trafficking increasingly takes place online.
“Today, we find the social media rife with the “Japa Syndrome” which these nefarious individuals are using to their advantage. Cases abound of young Nigerian girls being taken to places such as Libya, Lebanon, Oman, Kuwait, Romania, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, etc with promises of well-paying jobs as maids and nannies. Well over 90% of these “jobs” are female escort services and these unsuspecting ladies fall victim.
“We also intend to launch our hotlines so as to be reachable by Nigerians both locally and internationally and social media handles to monitor the cyber-space and blow the whistle for the law enforcement agencies to swing into action where required”, the statement stated.
cc: Vanguard Ng
