Tordue Salem
26 June 2009
The House of Representatives Committee on Diaspora has begun the process to repatriate about 10,000 Nigerian teenage girls held captive by the sex-slave trade in Libya and Morocco.
The 10,000 girls aged between 13 and 17 are said to be from the southern part of the country and mostly from Edo State.
Chairman of the committee, Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa (AC, Ikorodu/Lagos), said this at an interactive session with a non-government organisation (NGO), Christ Without Borders.
The group had shown concern over the predicament of Nigerian girls in those countries, where the Diaspora Committee chairman said her committee would work closely with the National Agency Against Prostitution Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), to return the trapped girls in those countries.
She said the committee would also stage an aggressive campaign to educate parents and girls on the dangers of prostitution.
"We are going to be working with you and the committee will try to tackle this matter. We are going to sensitise people in the states. And, since most of these girls are from Edo State, we will meet with the governor to work out ways of putting this worrisome problem to rest," Dabiri-Erewa assured.
The Coordinator of the NGO, Mr. Taye Garrick, had told the committee that the were taken as sex slaves from Nigeria en route to Europe before they were trapped in Morocco and Libya.
He said some of the girls are pregnant and infected with various diseases including HIV/AIDS and had been sent to jail in the two countries while others are now at the mercy of their slave masters who manhandle them.
According to the coordinator, "these girls were on their way to Europe en route Morocco and Libya but got trapped in these countries.
"Our investigations revealed that these girls who were bought from Nigeria have been making efforts to escape from their sex masters but they are in bondage."
"There are estimated to be about 10,000 and are between the ages of 13 and 17. Some are being held in jail, some are housed by Nigerians in these countries and used as articles of sex and are mostly from the southern states with Edo State having the highest percentage among them.
"We intend to go with the committee to these countries so that we could identify these girls and help return them home," he stressed.
Garrick also told the committee that the Libyan and Moroccan authorities were fed up with the presence of the girls who had constituted nuisance to their countries, lamenting that the girls are living at a high risk as they could be eliminated or subjected to different inhuman treatment by the host nations.
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Every ugly situation call for planning. Plan should be in place to address the situation before they are repatriated.All to be repatriated should face medical checkup on arrival to save the increase of HIV in the country. All repatriated should be mandated to choose an apprentice skill/trade that will make them useful to themselves and the society when they complete the program. The situation should be declared an emergency situation to be financed by the federal government.The Federal government should setup a committee to handle the situation so that the Nigeria Police and Immgration not to exploit the avenue to perpetaute their sex slave on the vitims in the name of freedon and financial extortions from their parents. All slave masters (Madam and trolley's) should be secretely investigated by opening a private line for information from the members of the public. Proper provision should be in place to arrest the situaton before they are return.
Nigeria has become a country where unauthorised entrance is perpetrated by foreigners-a self inflicted adversity. However, I commend the leader of the NAPTIP for the result promising step they have taken. Girls should also stop seducing for sex to avoid unwanted involves.