"These girls and many more are being trafficked to Senegal, through Cotonou, Benin Republic via Mali to the Senegal border for prostitution."
The combined operatives of the Nigerian Embassy and a Senegalese-based NGO have, in an overnight operation, rescued 24 Nigerian girls who were subjected to sexual exploitation in the Tamaccounda and Kedougou Regions of Senegal.
The acting Ambassador of the Nigerian Embassy in Dakar, Senegal, Salihu Abubakar, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Dakar on Sunday.
According to him, the girls, mostly under-aged, ranging between the ages of 11, 13 and 24, are being trafficked to Senegal through Cotonou, Republic of Benin, via the Mali to Senegal border for the purpose of sexual exploitation in Tamaccounda and Kedougou Regions.
"These girls and many more are being trafficked to Senegal, through Cotonou, Benin Republic via Mali to the Senegal border for prostitution," the diplomat said.
Mr Abubakar said preliminary investigation revealed that most of the girls, who were school dropouts were from Edo and Delta, adding that a few of them were from Imo and Abia while two others were from Plateau.
He, however, said of the 24, 22 were already repatriated weeks ago while the two other ladies were repatriated to Nigeria on Saturday and had landed in Nigeria safely.
The diplomat could not immediately give the details of the health status of the victims and other information regarding the time they spent while undergoing sexual exploitation in Senegal.
The envoy said that the successful repatriation of the girls to Nigeria was a clear indication of the strengthened international cooperation in combating human trafficking between the embassy and the Senegalese-based NGO, "Free the Slaves" (La Lumiere in French).
"Our main goal and number one priority is to discourage the trafficking of our Nigerian girls to any part of the world for prostitution under any disguise," Mr Abubakar said.
