18-YEAR-OLD NARRATES HOW SHE RESISTED PROSTITUTION AFTER BEING TRAFFICKED TO MALI
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By Aishat Momoh. O.
An 18-year-old girl, Faith Joseph, has narrated how she resisted pressure to engage in prostitution in Mali after traffickers lured her with a fake job offer in Lagos.
Joseph, who worked as a maid in Afuze, Owan East Local Government Area of Edo State, said she was promised employment as a salesgirl in Lagos but later discovered she had been trafficked out of Nigeria.
Her parents raised the alarm when they realised she had been taken to Mali, prompting her eventual rescue and return with the support of the Edo State Migration Agency.
Recounting her ordeal in Benin City on Thursday, Joseph said she was shocked when she discovered she had been deceived.
“I was told I would work in Lagos as a salesgirl. But after we got to Lagos, we lodged in a hotel for the night. The next day, we went to Cotonou, where I realised we had passed Lagos. The trafficker insisted we had not reached our destination.
“In Cotonou, she handed me over to a driver who took me to Mali the following day. On arrival, I discovered the work was prostitution. I told them I could not do it and asked to be taken back home. They said I couldn’t return until they brought someone else to replace me,” she said.
Joseph added that she spent three weeks in Mali before escaping to a police station. “Life was not easy because I refused to do prostitution. Some people gave me money to eat until I was rescued,” she said.
The Director-General of the Edo State Migration Agency, Lucky Agazumah, commended Joseph’s courage and urged residents to report cases of human trafficking. He assured that Governor Monday Okpebholo remained committed to prosecuting offenders.
Human trafficking has remained a major challenge in Edo State. In 2018, the Oba of Benin, His Royal Majesty, Ewuare II, revoked curses placed on victims by native doctors and placed a counter-curse on traffickers to curb the menace.
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