The National Agency for Prohibition of Traffic in Persons (NAPTIP) has alerted Nigerians in respect of Nigerians that are dying in Sahara desert and Mediterranean due to trafficking.
The agency’s Director General, Julie Okah-Donli revealed this during the inauguration of the state task force on human trafficking in Abakaliki, Ebonyi state and said more than 20,000 Nigerians were victims of trafficking in 2018 in Mali alone.
She remarked that human trafficking issue and irregular migration have become issues of a great concern especially as high number of Nigerians are trapped in sexual and labour exploitation in many African and European countries.
Okah-Donli said: “Last year reports emerged about the existence of human farms in some parts of Libya where black African migrants are allegedly kept in cages like animals and their organs like eyes, kidneys and lungs are harvested to service medical sectors of Europe.
“In December 2018, NAPTIP undertook a fact finding mission to Mali. The report of the mission painted a very poor picture of more than 20,000 young Nigerian girls who are victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation in bush camps around Mali’s mine fields.”
“In the first week of March 2019, I personally followed up with a visit to Mali and saw girls as young as 14 years held in sexual slavery in very horrendous conditions.”
The DG revealed further that 292 indigenes of Ebonyi state who were subjected to child abuse child labour, sexual exploitation and sale of babies have been liberated from Izzi, Ezza, Ikwo, Afikpo North and South, Onicha, Ohaozara, Ishielu, Abakaliki, Ivo, and Ishielu LGAs between 2004 to July 2020 and added that the International Organization of Migration (IOM) has sent back 11 indigenes of the state (9 females and 2 males) from various parts of the world.
