In a country faced with myraids of challenges where most people are only concerned about how to make ends meet and survive the harsh economy, it is rare to find individuals or group of individuals, who are still passionate about helping vulnerable people secure a better future.
There is, however, a Non Governmental Organization in Nigeria that has defied all odds and taken upon itself to empower the vulnerables in the society.
The organization is called “Galilee Foundation”. Established in 1989 by Reverend Olubunmi Olu Alakija, the foundation has over the years rendered selfless services to destitute, victims of drug abuse and human trafficking.
In continuation of these selfless services, Galilee Foundation, on Friday, held an empowerment programme for not less than 26 survivors of human trafficking, who were rescued from Libya.
The day turned out to be a memorable one for the survivors as it marked the beginning of a new life after spending miserable years in the hands of their traffickers.
Executive Director, Galilee Foundation, Dr Gregory Egbadon said the survivors were empowered based on their individual requests.
Dr Egbadon explained that, while some showed interest in catering business, trading in food items, hair making and fashion designer business, others requested to return to school.
He explained further that those who requested to return to school have been successfully enrolled in school which is sponsored by the organisation, while others who chose the business paths, were presented with items that matched their areas of interest.
Some of the items included foodstuffs, Gas cookers with cylinders, Freezer, baking ingredients, bags and shoes, vegetable oils, kegs of palm oil, as well as, beverages, among others.
Dr Egbadon said the empowerment, which is the fourth in the series, was sponsored by Freedom Funds International.
According to him, after the empowerment, they monitor the situations of the survivors and their businesses to ensure that they were on the right track
He noted that apart from the empowerment, Galilee Foundation also embark on rehab procedures for the survivors as many of them usually do not return mentally stable due to the inhumane treatments they got from where they were trafficked to.
Dr Egbadon stressed that thorough screening and interviews are conducted to always ensure that those they are dealing with are true victims of human trafficking.
The Executive Director, Galilee Foundation equally said the foundation visits schools on weekly bases to create awareness on human trafficking in order to prevent the students from falling victims to the crime.
He was particular about the need for the younger generation to exhibit the virtue of contentment as many had been tricked to travel outside the country in the name of finding greener pastures, only for them to end up being abused and treated as slaves, just because they were desperate to get “instant wealth”.
In his goodwill message to the occasion, the National Secretary and Head of Programmes, Network Against Child Trafficking Abuse and Labour, NACTAL NIG, Comrade Osita Osemene said NACTAL is the first body that provides intervention in terms of training for the survivors as soon as they return home.
Comrade Osemene explained that NACTAL works with almost 300 member organisations across the country such as Galilee Foundation, to provide interventions in areas of mental health training and empowerment initiatives for the survivors.
“The organisations are working in different thematic areas such as awareness, protection, provide kind of pyscho-social counseling, they provide shelter services especially for survivors and for victims”.
“One of the things you see that NACTAL provides, like what Galilee Foundation is doing now, is this type of intervention, identify survivors, identify victims and support them to ensure that victims recover fast”.
“Once they come back, we are the first people who provide them with intervention of training and integration. The training that we provide, we have a tool that we use to assess them after four months, after six months we assess them, after one year we assess them to know how far they have gone with the support.
Comrade Osemene said NACTAL is presently training about 150 survivors of human trafficking who will also be supported after the exercise.
The event also afforded some of the survivors to narrate their experiences including Loveth Akinbiyi, Olabode Deborah, Isaac Abiona and Kehinde Aremu, who said they were promised good lives before leaving Nigeria but the reverse was the case.
The survivors appreciated Galilee Foundation for intervention and promised to do make good use of the privilege.
Others, who gave goodwill messages on the occasion included Chief Orientation Mobilisation Officer, National Orientation Agency, NOA, Ibadan South West local government, Oyo State, Mr Omotosho Oluwole, Representative of Commissioner for Women Affairs in Oyo State and Assistant Controller Immigration, Oyo State Command , Mrs Agunle Jika, who lauded Galilee Foundation for the initiative and promised to collaborate with it to fight human trafficking in Nigeria.
