Hot SourceAdibe Emenyonu in Benin City
Two female minors among them a sickle cell patient, aged 13 and 14 have been rescued by the Edo State Migration Agency while being trafficked to Libya.
Also rescued was 18-year old girl, Joseph Faith, who narrated how she refused to engage in prostitution in Mali after she was tricked into going for a job in Lagos State.
The minors who left on Sunday but returned on Wednesday night had already gotten to Zaria, Kaduna State when their trafficker asked them to return because her mother, Mrs. Comfort Etim, was arrested by the police.
Speaking at the premises of the Edo Migration Agency, the girls said they were told they would be taken to Italy to work as maids to an old couple but that they should not tell their parents.
They said their sponsor who obviously was working with the trafficker placed them in a bus and gave them a number to call when they got to Kano State.
According to one of them simply identified as Success, “The boy told me her sister is in Italy and that she and her husband were old. He said they don’t have any children. He told me not to tell my mother. He also said we should call our parents when we get abroad. The second girl did not look well but she said she was well.
“They took us to a motor- park in Aduwawa and placed us inside a bus to Kano State. He told the driver we are going to Kano and gave us a number to call when we get to Kano. He gave us hijab, milk, golden morn and water. I am happy that I am back home.”
The other victim, who is suffering from sickle cell, said she wanted to surprise her mother when she got to Italy.
According to her, “The boy told me her sister is 78 years old. I said if I go I will surprise my mother. I told them my body is sound. He told us to wear the hijab when we get to Kano. We are to call a man in Kano who will take us in from there. When we got to Zaria, he called that we should come home but the Kaduna man asked us to continue the journey.”
On her part, 18-year-old Faith said she was working as a maid in Afuze, Owan East Local Government Area, when she was told there was a sales girl job in Lagos State.
She said her parents raised the alarm when they discovered that their daughter was trafficked to Mali.
She was eventually rescued back to Nigeria with the support of the Edo Migration Agency.
Speaking in Benin City, Faith said she refused to engage in prostitution when she got to Mali.
According to her, “I was told I will work in Lagos State as a sales girl. When we got to Lagos at night, we slept in a hotel.
“The following day, we went to Cotonou and in Cotonou, I complained that we have passed Lagos State, she said we have not reached our destination. In Cotonou, she handed me to a driver who took me to Mali the next day. In Mali, they took me to one Lady but I saw that it was not what I was told. What they are doing there is prostitution and I told her I cannot do prostitution.
“I said I want to go back home. She said I cannot go back until they bring another person to replace me. I was in Mali for three weeks before I ran to the police station.
“Life was not easy for me in Mali because I refused to do prostitution. It was people that were giving me money to eat until I was rescued.”
Addressing journalists on the development in Benin City, Director General of the agency, Lucky Agazumah, urged Edo residents to report cases of human trafficking.
Agazumah said Governor Monday Okpebholo was resolute to tackle human traffickers and ensured they are prosecuted.
He added that the transport firm responsible for transporting unaccompanied minors would be sanctioned including other co-conspirators to ensure all those involved face justice.
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