Photo credit: CNNNigerian government has discovered over 20, 000 Nigerian women most of who were sold in slavery in Mali.
According to the Director of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Julie Okah-Donli, many other women who were so discovered, are being used as sex workers.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Julie explained that the women mostly came from rural areas of six different states in Nigeria., adding that some were actually abducted while going to school.
“They were tricked into going to Mali by giving them the impression they were going to get jobs in hotels, for example.
“There are over one million Nigerian residents in Mali, out of which about 20,000 are trapped into forced prostitution. The conditions are horrible. They are kept in the thick of the forest where they cannot escape and with the ‘madames’ watching over them.
“I have said it several times that NAPTIP will not spare anybody in its determination to redeem the image of Nigeria in the eyes of the world as a source, transit and destination country for human trafficking.”
According to a 2018 report by the US State Department, human trafficking is a major problem in Nigeria.
Nigerian victims of human trafficking were found in about 40 different countries, the report stated, adding that 80 percent of all female Nigerian migrants in Italy are, or will become sex trafficking victims.
The United Nations has criticized Nigeria for failing to tackle human trafficking after a human rights mission looked at efforts to stamp out the organized trade in people.
NAPTIP was created on 14th of July 2003 by the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act 2003 during the regime of President Olusegun Obasanjo.
