Chief Onwuchelu Michael Emeka
President of Nigeria Community in Cote D’Ivoire, Chief Onwuchelu Michael Emeka, has alerted Nigeria’s government about the increasing human trafficking on Nigeria-Cote D’Ivoire routes.
Speaking on NTA International’s programme on human trafficking, monitored in Kano, Emeka said, “Nigerian girls are particularly being trafficked to Cote D’Ivoire for sexual exploitation.
“Young Nigerian girls between the ages of 11 and 18 are being massively taken from Nigeria to Cote D’Ivoire by human Trafickers under the pretext of getting them jobs.
“These girls, on their arrival in Cote D’Ivoire, the Trafickers cut their access to information by dispossesing them their mobile phones.
“Under this condition, they face various forms of maltreatment and can not connect with anyone outside their enclave for help,” he said.
Emeka said, the situation was pathetic and needed urgent intervention by the Nigerian government, whom he believes, has the capacity to solve the problem through inter-govermental discuss.
According to him, the numbers of the girls being transported from Nigeria to Cote D’Ivoire was growing by the day while many of them have died in the process with no information about their parents.
“You should know, unlike before, these girls are thousands from all parts of Nigeria with no exception.
“We know this from many of them that have been rescued,” he explained.
He, therefore, advised parents never to release their children to anyone or group of people with unfamiliar identity who are promising their children what they cannot offer them.
Emeka alleged that the “Trafickers have a place in Lagos where these girls are kept for onwards transportation to Cote D’Ivoire.”
Emeka, who did not explain the particular place in Lagos where the girls are kept, called on Nigeria’s security agents to devise new strategies to combat the menace.
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