Days after returning to Lagos from spending a week in Benin City, I am still mulling over the reason why Benin City is the major supplier of victims of human trafficking. In interviews and literature for various NGOs stakeholders had varying responses. The most popular, of course, being culture- people from Benin are just that way. I can accept that perhaps there is something in the culture that has drawn a large population of young people towards the prospect of making it abroad.

But I cannot accept that there is some reason behind why this is so. After reading a short history of Benin City- it had been an empire long ago and was a major city for international trading dating back to the 15th century- I thought perhaps history and the legacy of international trade had perhaps laid its roots in Benin. Perhaps trade in material objects gave way to trade in humans to other parts of Africa and to Europe centuries ago, playing a role in the continuation of the modern form of slavery today known as human trafficking.

But then again, why have other parts of Nigeria and Africa that served as major trade routes centuries ago not also fall prey to such a path? When a particular interviewee was asked the question, “Why Benin City?” I expected her to again repeat “culture.” To my appreciative surprise she instead told a short story that also involved trade, economics, and history- but a much shorter history.

Her explanation was the oil crisis in the 1970’s. She said that many international oil companies had bases in Benin City and throughout Edo State (where Benin is located). The crisis hit Benin City especially hard when workers were laid off, and people began looking for anything they could find. Through connections with international companies some women had the opportunity to travel to Italy and other parts of Europe- to pick tomatoes. So, beginning in the 1980’s a growing population of women were traveling to Italy to pick tomatoes in order to support their families back home.

As we know, tomato picking is seasonal work. So during the off-season the women turned to prostitution in order to continue the steady flow of income, and they in fact did quite well for themselves. News of their success spread back home, and they came back to bring more girls and women to share in this success. The more that went, the thinner the profits were, but networks of trafficking began instituted, and these early women became some of the earliest madams.

Although this success is now close to non-exsistent for Benin City girls and women wishing to travel abroad and increase the economic status of their families, the culture of traveling abroad has indeed been imbedded in Benin, and fallicious stories of wealth attainment when traveling to Europe still abound. Whether or not this theory holds I am not sure, but it is the best explanation I have heard so far, and is certainly worthy of further exploration.

The work that needs to be done to protect more girls and women from falling victim to grandiose promises of wealth is eradicating these stories from their culture, which many NGOs are hard at work doing through education programs. If we know that the root cause on the supply side of human trafficking is economics and word of mouth advertisement, then perhaps we can conclude that the solution is just the same.