The Edo State Government, on
Friday, commenced the payment of N20,000 monthly stipend to four sets of Libya
returnees in the state.
Speaking at Idia College, in
Benin City, where the returnees converged to receive the stipends, Chairman,
Edo State Taskforce Against Human Trafficking, Prof. Yinka Omorogbe, said the
stipend would be paid for three months.
Prof. Omorogbe said “When the
first set of returnees arrived the state, the governor promised to pay them
monthly stipend. This is the first of the payment and it will be for three
months.”
She added that the payment
commenced after the state government completed the processing of the data of
those captured in the first phase.
Some of the returnees
expressed their appreciation to the government for the gesture, noting that the
move to rescue and reintegrate them into society was laudable as it afforded
them another chance at life.
Other recipients of the
stipend appealed to the state government to increase the amount, noting that
they were ready to participate in the vocational training programme.
Recall that the state
government swiftly swung into action to reintegrate its indigenes in the wake
of global outrage against the alarming trend of human trafficking, after a CNN
report revealed that Black Africans were being sold into slavery in Libya for
$400.
The state had earlier set up
the Taskforce Against Human Trafficking to fast-track action against the ugly
trend.
The taskforce has tendered a
bill for passage at the State House of Assembly to give bite to the campaign
and set effective punitive measures against those fuelling the illegal trade in
the state
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