- Safiu Kehinde
No fewer than 12 female victims of human trafficking and a five-year-old boy have arrived in Lagos from Ghana and Mali.
The victims were received by the Head of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission’s (NIDCOM) Lagos Liason Office, Dipo Adebowale, on behalf of the commission’s chairman, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa.
As disclosed in a statement issued on Sunday by NiDCOM’s spokesperson, Abdur-Rahman Balogun, the commission’s Head of Lagos Liason office said the girls rescued from Ghana claimed they were tricked and forced into prostitution under the guise of helping them to get jobs.
Those rescued from Mali also shared same ordeal following their arrival in Lagos.
They recounted how they were being sexually abused, physically assaulted and emotionally traumatised by their traffickers.
In her reaction as cited in the statement, Dabiri-Erewa assured the girls of NiDCOM’s continued support by providing logistics and ensure that they are reunited with their families.
The NiDCOM boss also pledged to work with the respective state governors of the rescued victims in order to get them rehabilitated.
She also called for the crackdown on the human traffickers and agents through naming and shaming them after necessary prosecution to curtail the modern day slavery.
Meanwhile, the girls have been transferred to to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) for necessary profiling and documentation.