Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairperson of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), announced that over 10 Nigerian teenage girls trafficked to Ghana for prostitution are safe and will return to Nigeria next week. She revealed this during an interview on TVC on Saturday.
The girls, all under 18, were lured from Nigeria to Ghana by a man who has been arrested by the Ghanaian police. The victims were saved following a tip from the Diaspora Organisation, which represents Nigerians residing in Ghana.
The young women were said to have been physically assaulted, sexually abused, and coerced into engaging in prostitution without receiving any payment. A widely circulated video depicted the girls post-rescue, revealing their identities, places of origin, and the circumstances that led them to Ghana.
The video depicted the rescued girls, and an official from NIDO mentioned that they had rescued the girls from a single individual who had brought them to Ghana for purposes they did not consent to. The girls were reportedly exploited, forced into prostitution, and had their earnings taken from them. The NIDCOM boss described the situation as heartbreaking and called for NAPTIP to intervene in the matter.
Dabiri-Erewa said in a follow up post that yet another set of girls have been rescued. “The culprit will be charged to court in Ghana next week and arrangements being made to bring the rescued girls back to Nigeria,” she wrote, insisting that the traffickers must be named and shamed.
