Conflict-Induced Trafficking of Nigerian Women and Girls: Implications for Securitization, Insecurity, and International Relations.

This article analyzes the nexus between armed conflict, national and human security threats, and trafficking of women and girls in Nigeria from an international relation perspective. Drawing primarily on securitization theory (Buzan et al., 1998), this study examines how the insurgencies of Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) in the northeast, along with ideological conflicts and Fulani militia attacks in the Middle Belt, generate and sustain demand for sexual exploitation, forced labor, forced marriage, and domestic servitude. These dynamics create transnational security risks, including cross-border trafficking networks, regional instability in the Lake Chad Basin, and challenges to global anti-trafficking norms. Employing a qualitative multiple-case study methodology based on secondary data analysis, the study integrates recent empirical evidence from NAPTIP operations, the U.S. Department of State’s 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report, Amnesty International reports, and media accounts. Findings reveal partial securitization of the issue through speech acts framing trafficking as an existential threat, but persistent gaps due to radicalization, corruption, resource constraints, inadequate victim protection (especially for conflict-associated survivors), and weak prosecution of demand-side actors and non-state armed groups. The article highlights implications for international relations, including the need for enhanced multilateral cooperation, intelligence sharing, and gender-sensitive human security approach integration. The recommendations emphasize demand reduction, strengthened international partnerships, and survivor-centered reintegration to advance Nigeria’s counter-trafficking and counter-terrorism agendas.