HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND NATIONAL SECURITY: A NIGERIAN PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

This paper examines human trafficking and its implication on and national security from a Nigerian perspective. Data are collected from secondary sources while the content is critically analyzed and human security approach adopted as a theoretical framework. It observes that a significant relationship exists between human trafficking and national security globally due mainly to the fact that human trafficking thrives on corruption on the part of the government, greed on the part of the traffickers because of the mouth-watering profit it attracts, and poverty, lack of freedom to live in dignity and without fear of want on the part of the victims. From a Nigerian perspective, the paper argues that since national security is undermined by the inhuman acts, illicit wealth and transnational organised crimes that go pari pasu with human trafficking, the international community should raise above sentiment and sincerely collaborate to end it as it did to the transatlantic slave trade. It recommends that since Nigeria is one of the signatories to most international treaties against human trafficking, hence, it should try to beef up its national security, and collaborate effectively with the international community to end the illicit business.