Six Nigerian girls have returned back to their homeland from Burkina Faso where they were allegedly taken to for prostitution by a female trafficker. The rescued girls were reunited with their families on July 22, Wednesday, in Ibadan, Oyo state, The Punch reports.
Speaking with reporters, Innocent Akatu, the controller of the Nigeria immigration service in the state, disclosed that the girls were tricked to leave Nigeria by a woman, named Balikis. He said the victims did not tell their parents about the journey. During the interrogation, the girls confessed that they had refused to engage in prostitution in Ouagadougu, Burkina Fasso; therefore, they had been locked in a room by their trafficker.
“The victims, after being smuggled to Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso, discovered that they were going to be used for prostitution. They were not even told that they were going to Burkina Faso. These girls were told that they would be given lucrative jobs abroad; one of them was told that she was going to manage a jewellery shop owned by her trafficker.
“One of them was taken from her home in Ikorodu, Lagos state, and driven to Saki in Oyo state. When she asked why it had taken them so long to reach the airport, she was told that the plane had left and that they would have to travel by road,” Akatu said.
After three weeks of captivity, one of the victims escaped and alerted local police. “The Nigerian embassy assisted in arranging emergency travelling documents for them to return to Nigeria after their lucky escape. We have taken them to the hospital for screening and they are HIV negative,” the comptroller added.
One of the victims, Ganiyat Samuel, who lives with her grandmother in Ikorodu, narrated how she was tricked to leave Nigeria and embark on the journey. “A woman, called Balikis, came to me and said that I would make more money as a fashion designer if I travel outside Nigeria. I told her that I had no passport, but she said that she would take care of it. I did not tell any of my parents.
“When we got to Saki, she said she could not get a passport for me because the office had closed. We travelled for two days to get to Burkina Faso. She took me to her house and told me that I would have to do HIV test. The test revealed that I was pregnant, but HIV negative. She told me that she brought me to the country for prostitution and that I would have to abort the pregnancy. I refused and she locked me in a room. When she brought another Nigerian a week later, I helped the girl to escape and she alerted the police. The police rescued us and arrested the woman,” she said.
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