VIDEO: 10 underage Nigerian girls trafficked to Ghana for prostitution

At least 10 underage Nigerian girls have been filmed recounting how they were trafficked to Ghana for prostitution.

A Video clip uploaded to X on Friday, showed the girls in a room being questioned by an unidentified man.

The girls were aged 15 to 18, they said in the clip.

Seven of the girls said they were from IMO Statussoutheastern Nigeria while three of them said they were from Jos in Plateau Statenorth-central Nigeria.

The girls spent between one and two months in the West African country.

The girls, three of whom are siblings, said the brother of one of them brought them to Ghana and their mobile phones were seized when they arrived in the country.

When asked what they were doing, one of the girls replied, “Prostitute work.”

“They pay you (for prostitution)? » » the unidentified man further investigated.

“No. They don’t pay us. All the money you earn (through prostitution), they take it,” the girl replied.

The man condemned the development, saying children in this age group should be in school and not in prostitution.

“They pay me 200 cedis a day”

In other Video clip uploaded to the same X ID, the alleged trafficker admitted to trafficking the girls into the country.

The unidentified trafficker, who is Nigerian, said he received 200 Ghana Cedis daily from the prostitution of the girls.

The amount is about N20,000 or $14, depending on the current exchange rate.

It is unclear whether the 200 Ghana Cedis constitutes the daily value received for each or all of the girls.

He claimed the girls told him they were up to 20 years old.

Stop

Chairman of the Organization of Nigerians in Diaspora, Callistus Elozieuwa, was seen in another clip, saying the suspect had been arrested.

“We were informed yesterday that a Nigerian man brought these ladies here, beat them, abused them and sent them to prostitution. So we sent our rescue team to look for the girls.

“We went there this morning, luckily we were able to collect them all from the guy's room. And we were able to apprehend the guy. He is here in custody,” Mr Elozieuwa said.

“We will take custody of the girls”

National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons spokesperson Zachariah Duada told PREMIUM TIMES on Friday evening that the agency was already working to obtain custody of the girls.

Banned in Nigeria

Nigeria enacted the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act in 2015, which prohibits all acts of human trafficking in the country.

The law provides for a minimum sentence of five to ten years' imprisonment and a fine of one million naira for child trafficking, depending on the purpose of the trafficking.

Several people have been convicted of child trafficking across the country.

The Kano State High Court in July 2021, sentenced a man, Paul Owne, to 91 years in prison for kidnapping and trafficking children into the state for sale in Onitsha, Anambra State.

A Federal High Court in Port-Harcourt, River State, in 2019, sentenced three people to a cumulative sentence of 12 years' imprisonment for trafficking a two-year-old male child and another child.