Reliance on remittances and loans
Economic inequity in Edo State manifests itself in high levels of unemployment and under-employment, particularly among economically excluded young people. As a woman teacher described: ‘there are so many graduates out there with no job. You see them riding buses, they are bus drivers, and they are graduates’. Among other effects, it has created a reliance on funding sources not related to employment or education, but to the movement of people over land, including primarily remittances and loans (See Loop 1 in Figure 2).
The effect of remittances in Edo State is significant, and the ability to remit money remains a core objective for people travelling to and through Libya. Remittances have allowed families to build homes, buy cars and access good-quality education and health services. As one focus group respondent put it:
In 2022, Nigeria received over $20 billion in personal remittances, making it the largest recipient among sub-Saharan African countries and the eighth largest recipient globally. A substantial amount goes to Edo State, where the flow of remittances has prompted an increase in commercial activities, boosted sales of real estate and affected the entire state economy. Banks in Benin City are designated as some of the busiest in Nigeria due to the entrenched reliance on remittances.,
However, this reliance does not mean that remittances are always a successful approach. Monies from abroad are often irregular, arrive too late and/or are insufficient for most of those receiving them to live on. The women and girls trafficked for the purposes of forced sex work are considered more likely to send regular remittances, but even this financial flow is uneven. Remittances are less likely to be received from the men moving, as explained by one man returnee from Edo State while describing the unpaid labour in Libya. But the limited alternative economic opportunities have resulted in a dependence on remittances in Edo State, thereby creating some acceptance of smuggling and trafficking as a source of revenue.
A related factor is that people leaving Edo State often take out loans to fund their movement. This can include loans from individuals, from banks or community-pooled loans. While banks and microfinance lenders do not officially grant loans for the purpose of migration, a LAPO (Lift Above Poverty Organization) microfinance bank project officer did indicate they know of instances where business owners have asked for loans to expand their business – only to give the money to their child to move over land to Libya. Alternatively, a smuggler ‘gives an advance’ on the final payment which the person moving agrees to pay back after they have found employment, as an interviewee explained:
As a result, families in Edo State can end up with loans they cannot pay – because their relative is held captive, extorted for further funds, unable to find work or has died. These debts cause many people in Edo State to lose their houses, businesses and land. Such losses not only entrench poverty but create debt bondage. As one focus group participant illustrated:
Recruitment practices
Structural violence in Edo State has also influenced the types of recruitment practices taking place for the purposes of smuggling and trafficking. Whether in organized or more diffuse networks, a man from Idogbo described how agents work throughout communities in Edo State:
These practices have led to smuggling and trafficking networks becoming embedded within communities, prompting the development of recruitment tactics which are specific to the conditions in Edo State. This embeddedness creates an initial level of trust in smugglers, traffickers and their agents among the population: ‘There is always a connection, it is not a total stranger that comes. That element of initial trust is what is exploited.’
The familial pressure – highlighted in Loop 2 in Figure 2 – that is encouraging and, at times, arranging the smuggling or trafficking of their children is a complicated issue in Edo State. The trafficking of women and girls by their family often takes place in the knowledge that they will become sex workers. Often, families see no alternatives for making ends meet and are deeply conflicted in their attitudes to smuggling and trafficking, as one woman from Idogbo captured:
These internally contradictory priorities and attitudes at times also lead young people to plan and leave Edo State without their parents knowing, in an attempt to help their family.
In the context of familial pressure, another key influence that must be considered is the use of religion as a tool of coercion – as illustrated by Loop 3 in Figure 2. Though Edo State is a majority Christian region, African Traditional Religion (ATR) is widespread. Mirroring findings from previous research on the subject, focus group respondents indicated ATR oaths are used to bind people to their journeys, and to ensure women and girls comply with both trafficking and forced sex work:,
In early 2018, the Oba of Benin (the King of Benin and a cultural leader in Edo State) declared that trafficking for the purpose of sex work was forbidden, that all agreements made through a shrine were void, and that this practice should not be used for trafficking. While the Oba’s declaration did reduce the practice (with many focus group respondents noting its significance), the impact was limited, as the Oba’s word only carried weight in the part of Edo State that he oversees.
Certain recruitment schemes have in recent years become common, reflecting either dynamics in Edo State or responding to anti-smuggling and -trafficking initiatives. For instance, in the 1990s and early 2000s, women were recruited by brothel-owners promising employment such as domestic work or hairdressing and providing both the flight tickets and sponsorship for visas. As awareness of this recruitment tactic increased among affected communities, smugglers and traffickers responded by adjusting their schemes – including by shifting their attention to rural areas where the realities of travelling abroad and this particular tactic were less known.
Such shifts demonstrate the sophistication of recruiters and their operations, and their ability to adjust depending on a rural or urban setting, the gender of the person, and the type of work someone is hoping to engage in.
Sex work and sexual exploitation of minors
Gendered exclusion in Edo State is linked to the prevalence of sex work, sexual violence and forced sex work in Benin City. These dynamics are highlighted in Loop 4 in Figure 2. As in many countries, some women in Nigeria support themselves financially through sex work. It is difficult to estimate the number of sex workers in Nigeria, but rough estimates based on data years apart would place it somewhere between 600,000 and 2 million., Benin City provides a clear illustration of this situation as, from the early evening and throughout the night, three key thoroughfares become centres of sex work.
The acceptance of sex work as an economic necessity has, however, not led to increased social acceptance or a reduction in exploitation, coercion or trafficking. During interviews and focus groups, examples were given of parents making girls as young as nine engage in forced sex work in Benin City:
The discussion of forced sex work and the sexual exploitation of girls not only demonstrates how gendered structural violence in Benin City (re)produces direct violence to women and girls, but also how it is linked to trafficking. The stigma against people engaging in sex work creates a covert environment where sex work becomes interlinked with forced sex work and the sexual exploitation of minors. The hidden nature of these practices is then exploited to recruit and coerce many (forced) sex workers in Benin City into trafficking.
