Unlike the route through the Niger, Libya, the Sahara desert and the crossing of the Mediterranean sea, the route from Russia to Moscow is mainly by air. This is not to negate the fact that Russia's boarders are unsecured allowing free flow of persons to enter into the main country.

Transit

The transit is usually done alone in most cases where the victim has to fly into the Russian Federation and they are accompanied by someone to clear the immigration process for them. Victims might come in 2 or 3 it depends on the demand and arrangement made by the exploiters. Six of the victims interviewed claimed to have come with other victims on the same flight. It is shocking that their arrival at the Moscow airport might be the last one if they are not owned by the same exploiter. 2 of the victim told me that their exploiter sold the victims they came together with at the airport to their friend or colleague in the business.

Nigeria is a very religious country, and one cannot overemphasize the role of religion in HT, Human Trafficking as it own religion which has been used to create a high level of loyalty, trust, moderation and authority over the parties involved, in most cases as related to human trafficking between the victim and the exploiter (Madam), victim and the family member of the exploiter. It is a common phenomenon in the recruitment stage in keeping victims in perpetual bondage, which often frustrate investigation and persecution of traffickers and protection of victims by anti-human trafficking bodies is the concept of African Traditional Religion, it has also been referred to as Juju (Ikeora, 2016). The oath serves as a spiritual agreement entered by the victim and the benefactor who might be represented by contractor mostly a trusted ally, it is believed that the oath is effective and efficient than entering into a legal or written agreement. The initiation begins the process, it is mostly done in shrines where most of the ladies have to submit the victims pants, nails, public air is collected by the priest and in most cases the initiation is completed by taking a local gin, with or without cola nut and the throat of a chicken, sometimes the blood of the chicken is mixed with the local gin (Ikeora, 2016). Also, two of the victims told me that they got incision on part of their bodies, often on legs and chest, they claim they got the incision not only as oath at this point but to serve as a protection to evade the apprehension of the law enforcement agents at any point in time. Two of the victims had told me that their initiation oath was taken in the church under the watch of a pastor. Because the trafficking system is believed to be governed by this ATR, the victims always want to abide by an existing agreement reach because of the belief that the consequences would be outrageous not only on them but the affliction it would cause the victims family (Ikeora, 2016). The content of the oath is not far from holding the victim to a level of obedience as to pay up the debt in full, enclosed information to security agents and avoidance of a boy friend.

At this junction, I would like to state that though the ATR (Ayilalah) is the binding spiritual force throughout the trafficking process, the exploiters and victims in the case of Russia sex trade, still proclaim to be Christians. A victim informed me that there is a particular church where sermons on how victims should repent and fulfill the agreement made in the pre-trafficking stage is mandatory as God honors agreement. In other words victims are guilty to escape the Trafficking Circle except they fulfill the agreed payment. Furthermore, the ATR is also seen as effective even overseas, the madam regularly consults family members who usually go perform some rituals to make the sex business boom. It was very common among the victims who had completed payment of dues to say that, they have faced several misfortunes after paying off madam. They believe it from the angle that no one is going extra miles for them to prosper in the business. I have also had victims that escaped their madam say they will be going to get their pants or picture from the shrines where the oath was taken because they still believe in the efficacy of the ATR.

5.5 Sex Slavery

In one of my recent interview with a 24 years old victim, she narrated how she was invited by a client to his place, on getting there, she was made to wait for a while in the taxi until the clients mum when out of the house, eventually when she went in with the client, as a normal procedure of Pay-Before Service, the victim received her payment for the first one hour and the service was delivered as agreed, this victim was the first person to reveal to me that there are specific skills learnt on how to keep monies safe from the unknown clients since the business is done under distrust. She went further to narrate that she normally kept her money in a condom, and inserted in her private part. As a sex worker, you must be smart and think ahead of what a client in Russia might do to you, this is because Madams would not entertain an excuse for not coming back home with the agreed amount, not forgetting the fact that a taxi has been paid already, bursting a job is not good for the Pay-Girl, she said.

Still discussing on the same victim's experience, after the first escapade, she was about to dress up when the client requested for more time, this time she noticed four other men showed up at the kitchen showing no interest, at that point she began to feel very uncomfortable, but her initial want another hour which she requested another money but this time he said for free, she bargained for half 1,000 rubles instead of the initial 1,500 rubles as she complained that the more hours she stays out with clients the more money she needs to remit to her madam, upon agreement the client said the other 4 men will have to get involved she refused this time one of the men said “you are lucky, if you were in my own flat you will dare not say this shit else you will regret it, the men asked her to refund the initial money she received upon hearing that statement she knew something would happen and she ran out of their presence, they all chased requesting for the money and while beating her, they searched her purse but could not find the money, she was threatened , she had to extract the money and give it to them but in an attempt to rape her and her continuous struggle with them, she was thrown out from the window nakedly, she landed in front of 2 elderly women who were shocked first to see a black girl on the floor naked, they could not come any close, the women were opportune to see the flat where the young men threw her Purse from the same window.

A fellow Russian who was trying to clean his car saw her and quickly got a dress for her while asking her questions undergoing the pain, her clients and the other young men arrived the scene and threatened the man, as they left the man informed the Russian police, who came to the scene of the event, took her in the car on their way to the station, she put a call through to her madam, who asked her to escape from the security operatives at all cost, she did as told, unknowingly to her the policemen had gone ahead to wait from where she would exit from and so ended up at the station but this time the police were confused on how to go about the case, recall that in the previous chapter, I enunciated that the Russian police does not in most cases know how to treat cases of human trafficking, the victim was allowed to go later in the day.

The Marxist Feminism is the best way to explain this victim's ordeal because, even after going through hell, the madam is more interested that she remains being exploited while the victim was thinking on how far she has paid and how soon she will get her independent, eventually, this victim completed the $45,000 agreement she made.

Another victim narrated her case, while she was working as a sex slave for her madam, she was diagnosed to have a hole in her womb, and she needed to undergo an operation which was necessary because her menstruation seized for a long time. The victim informed the madam her health condition, so she decided to start saving some personal money for to solve this health issue. On a fateful day, the madam asked her to go service a client, upon arrival the client decided that he needs anal sex, so she called to inform the madam about it since she had told the madam from the inception that she does not do anal sex, the madam became so angry and warned her never to come home without the money, insisting that she must do the anal sex, the victim refused defending herself based on her health issues, she left the place but the victim arrival, the madam had gone to her bag where she kept the money for her operation due in few days time to replace the busted deal. When she approached her madam, it was a bitter experience as the madam and her boyfriend pounced on her, that was the straw that broke the camel's back as this victim decided to look for a way of escape, she went to a police officer to narrate her story, this time the police officer was so kind to rent an hotel for her and got her safely to the embassy before she had the operation and was successfully returned back to Nigeria.

Another important case was similar to the previous one was narrated by the victim that was raped by sixteen men demanding for anal sex, during her hands was broken and an operation was carried out with iron to support her harm. Similarly, another lady who refused to allow unprotected sex was stabbed on her laps with knife, she has to undergo an operation.

Mr. Kenny narrated a case of a lady, who has been pleasing her madam by allowing anal sex, few months ago she had anal sex with 8 men and in the process, her anus was damaged she could no longer excrete, weeks after weeks, her stomach became swollen, the victim cried for help and she was operated. Surprisingly, the madam showed up after the operation to claim that the lady must continue to serve as a sex slave because she is yet to complete the agreed payment. This is a clear case of exploitation and greed, the exploiters do not care if a victim dies in the course of bring back money for the madam. Like said the only reason why victims want to remain in the circle is to make themselves independent but in reality this independent does not come so easily, it at that stage when it becomes so clear, that victims would try to escape the from the shackles of the madam, either to stop in genuinely, or to use the anti-trafficking bodies in Russia to escape the circle to get re-trafficked since they now know the intricacies of the business, or become madams or traffickers themselves.

Finally, I would like to say that greed has been the major ingredient of all the actors involved in the trafficking circle, not excluding the victims, Mr. Kenny narrated the case of a victim that had kidney failure and it was obvious that she cannot continue with the sex trade, Kenny decided to help her return home, but the family members, leading this decision was her mum, pleading that the victims should be allowed to continue with the sex business on the note that she has no job to do In Nigeria. This is another indication of greed from the family sides, they do not care what happens to the victims as much as the family could boost that they have a daughter abroad who will continue or would soon be independent to assist them financially.

On the other hands, some of the victims revealed to me during interview that they would have escaped for a long time but they were afraid of a failure of their escape, also there is a group of the victims who believes an attempt to come to the NGO's who mean an end to travel to another country in the nearest future, this groups believes that these NGOs has some international network that could give names and documents profile to embassy officials of other countries. This misconception is always preached by fellow victims and madams maybe as a means to keep them in the circle. They also do not trust the idea to picture taking which some of them believes would eventually be published in the media sooner or later.

Closely related to this, some of the victims are very sensitive about some sexual injuries, they are willing to speak to a female in some instances rather than a male official and in some instances they are willing to speak to a Nigerian national and sometimes a foreign staff of the NGOs based on the issue of discourse.

There are other groups that believes that the NGO's in Nigeria are just money making organizations, interested in using the victim's stories to get financial supports from local and international donors, Osagie Dion, the founder of the God-Sent Foundation as also shared his view about the same issue, alleging that a total of over $200 million have be received and pocketed by some bodies parading themselves as NGO's in Nigeria. My assumption is that victims might have some misconception of who and what these NGO's does, but in reality some of the NGO's are money making ventures, Fatimah, (2017) clearly says that the victims before escaping the sex bondage already have a continuous thought for a long time weighing their options, victims never wants to regret taking an action because of the first mistake they ever have made to even get in the circle in the first instance. In this situation they expect too much from the NGO's expecting something tangible since they believe some financial supports are coming from in most cases unknown foreign agencies.

Similarly related to this previous issues raised are the case of corruption through aide and abetting. Since the victims have a long lasting experience during the sex trafficking circle, the victim have been taught on what to say and to say should in case met or asked any question by an unknown individual. The exploiters goes as far as building their confidence that they have strong networks within the anti-human trafficking groups which includes the NGO's and the relevant governmental bodies, in such case where a victim has had a contact or the mere trust in the words given by the trafficker makes him loose trust for any NGO's that comes across her way in the nearest future. To support this claim, Carmelo Zuccaro an Italian prosecutor had told a Silican Attorney that some NGOs have direct dealings with traffickers, these sets of NGOs frustrates the efforts of security agencies on the field to intercept communication of the traffickers and victims most especially at the borders. In other words, the security agencies are not comfortable with the activities of the NGO during investigation and rescue of victims.

Upon arriving in Russia, the victims get engaged with the Russian police forces who gets bribe from the victims for not having immigration documents and being a the protector of the place of sex business as they police get a monthly dues because of the flats used. Furthermore, upon return to the country, the victims have something running through their minds, during my interview with a victim about to be assisted home, she asked repeatedly for my honest opinion as to know if what she has been told by her sex colleagues that at arrival at the airport in Nigerian, the NAPTIP officials are already waiting for her to be arrested. So the fear becomes more through the series of investigative questions, continuous keeping in the shelters and the possibility of not only punishing her trafficker who in most cases is a family member or relative but also being punished for tarnishing the image of the country abroad .

This simply means that the victims are left with different thought. The earlier the better we understands what the victims think about the NGOs and the security forces or better still the anti-human trafficking bodies the closer it will be to get a fast solution to mitigate this problem that has defiled all solutions over decades.

5.7 Factors mitigating the efforts of Anti-Human Trafficking Combat

There is more revelation about the journey from Nigeria to Europe, of course majority of the victims are led from Nigeria through, Niger via the Sahara desert to Libya and eventually crossing the Mediterranean Sea to Europe, obtaining a Schengen Visa is a no go area for traffickers, In rare cases this means could be used but it would increase the debt burden of the victim. Nevertheless, I will not dwell on the suicide-like experience of the girls trafficked via this routes which is majorly by land. Almost all of the victims trafficked to the Russian Federation came by Air, landed in Moscow before proceeding to the Train stations if would not be stationed in the capital city of Russia. However, some of the victims are taken to neighboring francophone countries from where they partly get documents before flying into the Russian Federation.

The Anti Trafficking bodies must be willing to do a thorough check on visa carriers at the departure centers and this check must be done individually without compromise. The ages of travelers should be ascertained, a NAPTIP official had posited that the law in Nigeria requires that a person below the age of 18 cannot travel alone but in reality girls below the ages of 13 have been found to be trafficked to Russia, Fatimah also corroborated that in Italy girls of age 12 are brought in by flight where the trafficker claims that they are her biological parents to evade arrests. Also, a light test of education should be done and girls seen to be potential victims because most of the girls trafficked to Russia are illiterate and underage, however, graduate or university students are some of the victim I interviewed.

The NAPITIP, DSS, NPF and other relevant agencies must do a check on this barbaric act of this intentional middle men has they have cause more havoc by allowing children to get travelling document in proxy paving way for human trafficking . More than 26 of the victims inform me that they cut corner either during the international passport processes or during the Russia Visa Application collection.

While the security agencies monitory the prone environment of Edo state, the NGO must not relent in their commitment to share the information to the grass root level, this because most victim are from the rural areas of Edo state. These means that they might not the access to the information or under informed or under informed. The earliest the better the stake holder understand that the human trafficking process is done with individual, handling separate task that is well known to professional level. The division of labor in economic terms explains these better.