From a Report by UNESCO about Human Trafficking in Nigeria

"Poverty, war, lack of information, gender inequality and high demand for cheap labor put demographic populations such as women and children at high risk. The general lack of prospects in rural areas often leads to trafficking, and many of those trafficked come from poor communities. One common dynamic is the following: in times of cutbacks in State services and subsidies, women assume the considerable burden of diminished resources as they are subject to the rigid gender-based division of labor assigning them the household27 and men tend not to devote their earnings to the household, leaving the women responsible for the survival of their families. These women then seek to diversify their sources of income28 which increases their risk of being trafficked. Furthermore, they are more likely to send their children either to live with other family
members in wealthier communities or to seek employment outside of the family network. This thereby increases the risk that those children will be trafficked, as the traditional practice of child fostering has been manipulated by traffickers in order to exploit children."