TRAFFICKING AND MODERN-DAY SLAVERY IN NIGERIA: LESSONS FROM THE MUGAMBE CASE
Introduction
Human trafficking and modern-day slavery are not abstract ideas for Nigeria; they are lived realities that travel our highways, across our borders, and haunt our courtrooms. The 2025 conviction in the United Kingdom of a Ugandan High-Court judge, Lydia Mugambe who trafficked and enslaved a young woman she had promised an education highlights how power, privilege and weak enforcement can converge to rob a person of their fundamental right of freedom. Mugambe’s fall is a warning for Nigeria: sound laws alone do not stop trafficking; only laws that are enforced without fear or favor combined with survivor-focused support and smart border management makes a lasting difference. When Ugandan High-Court judge Lydia Mugambe was convicted in the United Kingdom on 13 March 2025 for exploiting a young domestic worker, many Nigerians were jolted into remembering that modern slavery is not just an overseas scandal. Across our own 36 states, tens of thousands of citizens are deceived, transported or coerced into forced labor, sexual exploitation, domestic servitude and even forced marriage. Nigeria is now estimated to have one of the highest absolute numbers of modern-slavery victims in Africa and ranks fifth on the continent for prevalence.
How Exploitation Happens Here
Sex trafficking flourishes along the Edo-Delta route to Libya and Italy and in Lagos brothels, driven by unemployment, gender-based violence and fraudulent “madam” sponsorship contracts.
Forced labor thrives in informal gold mines in Zamfara, Kebbi and Plateau, and on cocoa and palm plantations in Ondo and Cross River, where poverty and weak labor inspection allow middlemen to trap whole families in debt bondage.
Domestic servitude remains widespread in urban homes in Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt, sustained by the cultural acceptance of inexpensive “house-help” and the absence of a truly enforced minimum wage for domestic work.
Forced begging and street hawking, especially in the North-West and North-East, exploit displaced children from Boko Haram-ravaged communities and the breakdown of the Almajiri Islamic-school system.
Why the Problem Persists
Economic vulnerability – Sixty-three percent of Nigerians live below the multidimensional poverty line, and traffickers’ prey on the desperation for any job at home or abroad.
Insecurity and displacement – Boko Haram, banditry and farmer–herder clashes have uprooted more than three million people, giving traffickers an ample pool of unprotected, mobile victims.
Weak enforcement – The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) won only 49 convictions in 2024 which was far fewer than the number of cases reported and prosecutions are often slow.
Cultural norms – Informal fostering traditions and the unregulated demand for domestic help blur the line between legitimate work and exploitation.
The way forward
Considerable progress has been made in the fight against trafficking and modern-day slavery. Recent progress includes a 2023 amendment to the Trafficking in Persons Act, which stiffened penalties and broadened asset-seizure powers; the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP’s) expansion of shelters to nine states; and a pilot cash-assistance scheme for survivors run with the International Organization for Migration. Yet the gaps remain wide: state child-labor laws are inconsistent, recruitment fees charged to outbound migrant workers are still legal, shelters offer barely a thousand beds nationwide, and Nigeria lacks a mandatory human-rights due-diligence law for businesses.
Nigeria’s fight against human trafficking often feels like a distant headline until a high-profile conviction, such as that of Ugandan judge Lydia Mugambe in the United Kingdom, jolts us into seeing how close the crisis really is. Mugambe, a respected jurist, lured a young woman abroad and forced her to work unpaid for months. She was finally sentenced in May 2025. Her downfall underscores three realities that should matter profoundly for Nigeria.
First, accountability must reach the elite. In Nigeria, trafficking prosecutions usually focus on small-time recruiters while influential sponsors fade into the background. Mugambe’s trial proved that social status need not shield an offender. A similar resolve is essential here: fast-track courts for trafficking, public dashboards that track high-profile cases, and a firm “no plea bargain” rule where minors are involved would make it clear no one is above the law.
Second, a victim-centered approach strengthens justice. Mugambe’s survivor received safe housing, legal aid, and trauma care; those supports enabled her to testify. Nigeria has shelters and a Witness Protection Act on paper, but funding is thin and services patchy. A ring-fenced Victim Assistance Fund, managed jointly by NAPTIP and vetted NGOs, would let survivors recover while their cases proceed. Judges should also be empowered to order compensation covering unpaid wages and damages to traffickers, not the public purse, bear the cost.
Third, borders and transit routes demand smarter coordination. Nigerian victims head north through Niger, west through Benin, or straight to the Gulf by air. Yet security agencies still share data manually, and traffickers exploit the gaps. Integrating NAPTIP’s watch-list with immigration biometrics, obliging airlines and major bus lines to upload passenger manifests for risk scoring, and using ECOWAS travel-card data to trace circular routes would tighten the net without resorting to crude profiling.
Grass-roots vigilance is just as important. Communities in Edo South, Kano, and Calabar already know the recruiters’ tactics false scholarships, football trials, instant jobs abroad, but they need streamlined ways to act on suspicions. A nationwide three-digit hotline that also works on WhatsApp, training for traditional rulers and transport unions, and modest reintegration grants that give returnees a real alternative to re-trafficking would build a front-line defence.
Ultimately, the Mugambe case offers Nigeria a mirror. We already possess one of Africa’s most comprehensive anti-trafficking laws. What is missing is consistent implementation backed by political courage, stable funding, and digital innovation. If Nigeria can show that even the powerful will answer for exploiting the powerless, if every survivor can count on safety and restitution, and if porous borders become watchful gateways, the country will move from well-written statutes to lived protection and, in time, set a regional standard that others look to emulate.
Conclusion
The lesson from Lydia Mugambe’s downfall is stark. Trafficking flourishes when privilege blunts the law, when survivors navigate justice alone, and when borders are blind. Nigeria already boasts one of Africa’s most comprehensive anti-trafficking statutes; the challenge is to animate that statute with political resolve, stable budgets, survivor-centered services and data-driven border control. If our system can show that even the mighty will answer for exploiting the powerless, and if every survivor can count on safety and restitution, Nigeria will move from legal aspiration to lived protection setting a standard for the region to follow.
References
Federal Republic of Nigeria, Witness Protection and Management Act 2022.
Federal Republic of Nigeria, Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act 2015.
National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Annual Report 2024.
U.S. Department of State, Trafficking in Persons Report 2024: Nigeria.
United Kingdom Crown Prosecution Service, R v. Lydia Mugambe, Oxford Crown Court judgment, 2 May 2025.
Walk Free Foundation. Global Slavery Index 2023: Global Findings. Perth: Walk Free, 2023.
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