In
a rather disturbing development, the National Agency for the
Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and Other Related Matters (NAPTIP)
has rescued 50 Nigerian girls, mostly underaged, working as sex slaves
in neighboring Ghana and Cote d’ Ivoire.
The girls, apparently victims of human trafficking, are between the
ages of 16 and 25. Executive Secretary of NAPTIP, Mrs. Beatrice
Jedy-Agba, who made this known at a news conference in Abuja on
Wednesday, said three suspects, acting as their slave masters, were also
arrested. She said the suspects, who admitted to the crime, would be
prosecuted to serve as deterrent to others engaged in the activities.
Jedy-Agba, who was represented by NAPTIP’s Director of Counselling and
Rehabilitation in the agency, Mrs Lily Oguejiofor, said the rescue
operation was the second of its kind this year, having rescued 10 girls
in July, 2012 from Ivory Coast, bringing the total number of girls
rescued this year from West African countries to 60.
She said the operation was necessitated by disturbing reports from a
variety of sources, including the Nigerian mission in those countries,
the media, Nigerians in diaspora, and civil society organisations in the
countries. She then noted that the reports were all authenticated by an
intelligence report from the Nigerian Intelligence Agency (NIA) and
corroborated by a civil society organisation working on anti-trafficking
issues in Ghana known as “Operation Mobilisation in Kumasi.”
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