Impacts of Cross-Border Human Trafficking through Seme-Idiroko Borders on Security in Lagos and Ogun States

Cross-border human trafficking has increased in dangerous proportion resulting in large number of Nigeria women, boys and girls that are recruited forcefully from villages and transported through Seme-Idiroko borders to other countries for exploitation. The purpose of the paper was to examine the remarkable ways cross-border human trafficking through Idiroko and Seme borders affect safety of individuals in Seme-Idiroko border communities and border protection in the border posts. The study was built around the deterrence theory by classical scholars in order to clearly understand how severity, certainty and celerity of punishment can deter potential offenders from indulging in the crime of compromising border security. Using the Rakash sample size formula, a sample of 397 was determined from a population of 46,105 respondents drawn from NAPTIP, NCS, and NIS in both Ogun and Lagos States; ONSA, Abuja and residents of Idiroko, Seme, Kpodji-Ague and Igolo border communities. Also, 15 respondents were tentatively selected for the sample size of the study using purposive sampling method. Data were collected using structured and open-ended questions as well as in-depth interview. Data were also collected from secondary source. Data from questionnaire were analyzed using weighted average, while data from in-depth interview were analyzed using narrative-analytic technique. Data from secondary source were analyzed using relational-content analysis. Findings showed, among other things, that the higher the level of cross-border human trafficking through Idiroko and Seme borders, the poorer the state of border security in Lagos and Ogun States. Among other things, it was recommended that the government should make punishment of offenders of cross-border human trafficking severe enough to discourage potential offenders from indulging in the crime.


Introduction
Border states of Lagos and Ogun have been experiencing increase in trans-border security threats, especially cross-border human trafficking in the border communities of Idiroko and Seme. Cross-border human trafficking has increased in dangerous proportion resulting in large number of Nigerian women, boys and girls that are recruited forcefully from villages and transported through Seme-Idiroko borders to other countries for exploitation. Seme-Idiroko borders are largely porous and this motivates human traffickers to transport their victims through the borders. In many cases, human traffickers bribe border security officials at the borders in order to easily carry out their illicit activities, hence compromising border security (Okereke &Okoli, 2020).
Human trafficking is a global phenomenon that affects many countries, but in diverse ways.
The developed countries are in the "demand side" of human trafficking, which is driven by cheap sex and cheap labour, while underdeveloped countries are in the "supply side" of human trafficking driven by poverty, unemployment, post-conflict economy, illiteracy, among others, which make them to lose the potential contributions of some of their youths trafficked to other countries. It is estimated that over $31 billion was the proceeds of human trafficking globally (Jatau, 2019). In 2016, the average proceeds from human trafficking involving Nigerians were about $100 million (Okereke, 2018). Despite measures by government to combat the crime at the borders such as Operation Fire-For-Fire, Operation DECO, among others, cross-border human trafficking involving Nigerians has continued to fester with its negative effects on border security, especially in Lagos and Ogun States.
With over 160 illegal routes into Idiroko and Seme, trans-border criminal activities have continued to deteriorate in Lagos and Ogun States, which resulted in the killing of 5 persons in single attack in 2021 (Oladipupo, 2021). Data available from (NAPTIP, 2021) (Nnadozie&Onyegbula, 2018), and more than 189 victims of cross-border human trafficking were intercepted in Seme in 2022 (Alabi, 2022). Therefore, this paper is geared towards the examination of remarkable ways cross-border human trafficking through Idiroko-Seme borders affected security in Nigeria with particular reference to Lagos and Ogun states.

Border State
Before defining the concept of border state, it is important to define the concept of border.
The concept of border has been defined by many scholars in diverse ways. According to Jatau (2019), border means barriers that protect a state against illicit cross-border intrusion by external actors. Border has economic advantages to residents of border communities as it provides huge markets, giving the residents the opportunity to maximise advantage of price differences in the two sides of the borders. At the same time, borders attract illegal activities such as illegal trading, hawking, trafficking and smuggling with its negative effects on border states. However, this definition did not include the links between national sovereignty and border, which is needed in this paper.
For Moraczewka (2010); Konrad (2015); and Hagen (2021), border means a point where a country's sovereignty ends and where another country's sovereignty starts. Border is equally defined as a legal means of determining national identity because recognition is given to states by the comity of nations when they have the capacity to effectively exert control within its borders. However, the definition did not give us a clue about fortified and soft borders, which is vital in the understanding of trans-border crimes through Seme-Idiroko borders affecting Lagos and Ogun States.
Gulasckaram (2012) defined borders by examining fortified and regulated borders. According to the author, fortified and regulated borders are strictly manned by soldiers. On the contrary, soft border is defined as the type of border the permits passage of people and goods through it without stringent checks (Espejo, 2013). The foregoing is slightly related to the meaning of border in this paper. Border is defined in this paper as internationally line of demarcation Republic, which shows the limits of the two countries' sovereignties.

Human Trafficking
In the past, trafficking means illegal transport of goods across international borders, especially smuggled goods such as illicit drugs with the aim of profit maximisation. Recently, the concept of trafficking has been broadened to embrace the illegal transport of vulnerable people, especially children and girls for the purpose of exploitation. The concept of trafficking is derived from "traffic", which means travel or transportation. Trafficking is seen as a lucrative enterprise as well as flourishing criminal activity in the universe (Okereke, 2018). This is in line with the position of this paper. However, the definition did not include human trafficking, which is needed in this paper.
More so, Jatau (2019) noted that human trafficking has three major aspects: the act, the means, and the purpose. The act includes recruitment or harbouring of victims, while the means include fraud and force. On the other hand, the purpose is for exploitation. Therefore, human trafficking involves smuggling as well as exploitation. Victims of human trafficking are characterised by poverty, poor level of education, young age, unemployment, sexual abuse, lack of family support as well as living in vulnerable places. Countries with huge gaps between the rich and poor in terms of economic status provides the atmosphere for exploitation and makes the poor to struggle to escape their pitiable conditions, while the rich benefit from cheap labour emanating from such decisions.
According to Okereke and Okoli (2020), human trafficking could be internal trafficking when it takes place within a country or external (cross-border) trafficking when it takes place across the national borders. The purpose of internal human trafficking is largely for illegal adoption and domestic servitude, while the purpose for external human trafficking is largely for commercial sexual and labour exploitation as well as for organ harvesting. In external or cross-border human trafficking, Ghana, Nigeria, and Togo are the main countries of origin, from where domestic child labourers are transported through countries such as Gabon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Niger to Europe for plunder. However, the foregoing did not meet our requirements in this paper. https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ajpas.v16i1.13 From the foregoing, cross-border human trafficking is defined, in this paper, as forceful recruitment of vulnerable youths from poor families in Nigeria or Benin Republic, and their transportation from the country of origin through Seme-Idiroko borders to a country of destination by trafficker(s) for the purpose of sexual and or labour exploitation.

Security
Brauchi (2013) noted that in the contemporary world, security is defined to have a positive value, which is related to the meaning of the concept in this paper. In the objective sense, security is a concept used in measuring absence of threats to acquired value, while in a subjective sense, security is used as a measure of absence of fear that a cherished value could be attacked. Security can be seen as a process of political and social interaction, suggesting that norms and social values, cultures, traditions and collective identities of people are vital in the understanding of security. Viewed from this perspective, security could be seen as a product of what the different actors constructed it to be. However, this did not reflect the international dimension of security, which is needed in this paper.
Similarly, Orolundare-Ayeni (2021) defined security from political sense, especially as it relates to international relations, where security reflects protection of a sovereign state from external attacks or threats. From this perspective, also, security implies safety of individuals from crime or violence, religious peace as well as financial measures that maintain a desired standard of living. Therefore, security is used in defining threats that may bring about serious harm to the safety of the citizens in the Border States, which is related to this paper.
However, the definition did not show divers perspectives to security, which is required in this paper.
Security can equally be divided into realist and idealist perspectives to security. For realist scholars, security means protection of the state and its vital interests from foreign attacks (Akbar, 2015), while idealist scholars perceive security as elimination of hunger, war, inequality, marginalisation, tyranny, diseases, and violence as sure approaches to ensuring security (Adeleke, 2021). The definition of security by idealist scholars suggests human security, which is defined as protection from dangers like natural disaster, poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, depletion of natural resources and pollution as well as freedom from war, https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ajpas.v16i1.13 torture, drug use, criminal attacks, kidnapping and domestic violence (Okereke, 2018).
However, the foregoing did not accurately reflect the meaning of security in this paper. Therefore, security is defined, in this paper, as protection of the Lagos and Ogun States, especially its borders from illicit border crossings and protection of the individuals in Seme-Idiroko border communities from poverty, violent attacks, diseases, illiteracy, injustice, amongst other cherished values.

Theoretical Framework
This paper is built around the deterrence theory of realism paradigm at individual -level of analysis. The history of the theory is traced to the early works of classical scholars such as Thomas Hobbes (1588-1678), Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), and Cesare Baccaria (1738-1794). The theory is hinged on certainty of punishment, severity of punishment and celerity of punishment as factors that prevent potential offenders from committing crime. For the classical theorists, the more severe a punishment, the more rationally-minded people are discouraged from committing crimes. This meansthat if punishment for offence is not severe enough, potential offenders will not be sufficiently discouraged from indulging in criminal acts. Certainty of punishment is anchored on the fact that anytime crime is committed, punishment should be expected and this must be swift in order to effectively deter potential offenders from committing crime (Deterrence Theory, 2010).
For Tomlison (2016), punishment should be quick, assured and in proportion to the degree of crime committed in order to deter potential offenders from breaking the law. For Baccaria, law should be clearly written and its punishment should be made known to the public so that they would be knowledgeable about their actions. Whether specific or general, deterrence is hinged on certainty, celerity and severity of punishment.
The central assumption of deterrence theory is that crime can be prevented when punishment is certain, severe and quick (Eassy&Boman, 2015). The theory is relevant to in this paper Decision rule is that any weighted average value ranging from 1.00 to 2.49 is unacceptable, while weighted average value ranging from 2.50 to 3.49 is neutral. Also, weighted average value ranging from 3.50 to 5.00 is acceptable. Data from in-depth interview were analysed using narrative-analytic method, while data from secondary source were analysed using relational-content analysis.   Majority of the respondents agreed that victims of cross-border sex and labour trafficking are frequently sexually battered, exploited, and forced to work for people, their rights are repulsively violated and abused; hence leaving them psychologically andbodilydistressed.

Data Analysis
Victims of sex trafficking, according to majority views, are forced to work as prostitutes in brothels against their will. Similarly, majority of the respondents agreed that cross-border sex Similarly, Osezue (2016) found out that human trafficking has negative impacts or implications for parents and families of its victims. Though the findings of the study aresomewhat similar to the findings of this study in terms of issues covered, it differs from findings from this paper in terms of depth of issues covered. In addition, the findings of this  (2020) showed that human trafficking negatively impinges on Nigeria's economy, which are slightly related to the findings in this paper.
However, the findings by Ojiakor, Nzewi and Arinze (2021) is largely related to the findings of this study by identifying cross-border crimes as being responsible for deterioration of security situation in Nigeria, which is partly one of the findings of this study. This shows that the borders are largely porous and allows for illicit cross-border movements into and out of Nigeria with its implications for security of lives and properties in Nigeria.
From 2011 to 2022, a total of 1,003 non-Nigerians who were victims of cross-border human trafficking were rescued in the border states in the Nigeria, especially in Lagos and Ogun States (Okereke, 2023). The meager number of victims of cross-border human trafficking and perpetrators of the crime rescued or arrested in Nigeria within the period may have resulted into increase in crimes and criminalities in the country, starting from the border states.
according to Sasu (2022)   The findings of this paper are slightly similar to the findings of previous studies such as Aluede (2017), Msuya (2019), among others, in terms of strategies for maintaining border security, but differ from it significantly in terms of scope and depth of coverage of issues.
While this study focused largely on ensuring the safety of individuals in Seme-Idiroko border communities and effective protection of Seme-Idiroko border posts using improved methods of border and frontier security such as use of biometrics, use of drones, trans-border cooperation between Nigeria and Benin Republic as well as effective border policing, previous studies did not. Therefore, our argument that effective border policing and use of biometrics to profile migrants are among the strategies for mitigating likely negative effects of cross-border human trafficking through Idiroko-Seme borders on security in Lagos and Ogun States, was valid.

Conclusion
This paper has been an attempt to examine the impact of cross-border human trafficking through Seme-Idiroko borders on security in Lagos and Ogun States. Findings from the study showed that cross-border human trafficking; especially cross-border sex and labour trafficking largely hamper effective protection of Seme-Idiroko border communities and undermine safety of individuals in the border communities. Though the government, at various times, has made efforts at combating the crime and improving border security in the areas, such strategies have largely proved grossly inadequate in mitigating the crime.
Therefore, it is concluded that unless illicit trans-border movements by human trafficking and their victims through Seme-Idiroko borders are adequately mitigated, security threats would continue to fester in Lagos and Ogun States.

Recommendations
The following recommendations are found relevant in this paper: i. the government should make punishment of offenders of cross-border human trafficking severe enough to discourage potential offenders from indulging in the crime; ii. residents of border communities in Seme-Idirko border communities should be wellsensitised to make it increasingly difficult for them to connive with perpetrators in driving the crime; iii. the government should set up stringent control measures at the borders using technology in profiling those that cross the borders; iv. border security personnel should be well-remunerated to discourage them from conniving with trans-border criminals in perpetuating the crime of human trafficking; and v. religious leaders, traditional and market leaders in the border communities should be brought in to help the border security personnel in identifying criminal elements perpetuating the crime of human trafficking in their areas.