St. Patricks Missionary Society Kiltegan Co. Wicklow, Work for Justice, Working for Human Rights, Lay Missionary Work, Ending Economic Slavery, Becoming a missionary

If Nigeria ever wanted to change its name, it could use some of its present letters, add some new ones and re-arrange to get Energy! Whether in spiritual, sporting, political or ordinary day-to-day terms it is a country full of life and movement. However, despite all this vibrancy, there are truly dark sides that make it a hard country for many of its teeming population of nearly 130 million.

Child labour and trafficking - both within Nigeria and onto the world stage – is one such dark spot. Thousands of young people are caught up in this web of exploitation and violence.

To combat this a coalition of NGO’s and interested groups has recently launched a multi-disciplinary campaign to raise awareness on the ills of child trafficking, promote access to justice, mobilise public opinion and mobilise resources.

Like many grassroots campaigns, this coalition has a long way to go. In Nigeria it has to battle the many pressures-poverty, disinformation, even family connivance-that are forcing young women into trafficking. Outside Nigeria, the coalition has to persuade other governments to provide more protection for the women, to prosecute the pimps and traffickers and to make the way for more legal migration.

Capital	Abuja
Currency	Naira
Size	923,768 sq. kms
Population	155 million

Any of us can help this campaign by raising our own awareness. We can also make others aware of the problem. Or we can help by joining a group who are active in this area either within Nigeria or in Europe or the US.

St. Patrick's Missionary Society - Kiltegan, Co. Wicklow Tel: 059 6473600 Fax: 059 6473622 Email: spsgen@iol.ie