At least 80 percent of Nigerian women and girls in Italy are victims of sex-trafficking.

This was made known by Monsignor Ignatius Ayau Kaigama at an international conference against human trafficking organised by Christian Organisations Against Trafficking in Human Beings, COATNET, and Catholic Charity Caritas, Abuja.

“Hundreds of thousands of people fall victim to human trafficking every year in Africa alone,” he said.

”Of the overall number of victims, 79 percent are sexually exploited and the majority are women.”

The Archbishop of Jos and President of the Nigerian Bishops Conference added that the remaining 21 percent “are coerced into forced labour, and the majority of these are men.

“In some parts of West Africa, the majority of trafficking victims are children under 18. This conference must find a way to put an end to child labour in all its forms.”

Kaigama urged the Federal Government to declare human trafficking a national disgrace, and to take urgent and long-lasting measures to address its root causes.

“This, in light of recent reports that 80 percent of Nigerian girls that reach Italy, do so for reasons of sex trafficking.”