It was a lucky break for six Nigerian ladies who were trafficked to Burkina Faso for the purpose of prostitution by a female human trafficker identified simply as Balikis, as they were rescued by the Oyo State command of the Nigerian Immigration Service, and have been reunited with their parents in Ibadan, the state capital.
The Comptroller of the Service in the state, Innocent Akatu, said the girls were tricked into leave Nigeria with the promise of better jobs and quality of living, adding that the victims did not tell their parents about the journey.
Akatu said the girls refused to engage in prostitution in Ouagadougu, Burkina Fasso, and were locked in a room by the trafficker.
The girls, according to Akatu, were lucky when one of them managed to escaped and alerted the Burkinabe police which rescued them and the process for the deportation began.
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Akatu said:
“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.
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.”
