The Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Mrs Abike Dabiri Erewa has confirmed the arrest of a suspect who trafficked young girls to Ghana as sex workers.
The NiDCOM chairman made this known in a tweet while thanking Chief Callistus, Chairman, Nido Ghana for his support which led to the prompt arrest of the suspect.
She wrote, “These are young girls trafficked to Ghana for prostitution . We thank Chief Callistus, Chairman, Nido Ghana for ensuring the arrest of the evil perpetrator. I am sure @naptipnigeria will follow up, very, very heartbreaking.”
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and other related matters (NAPTIP) had also launched an investigation into the circumstances behind a viral video depicting teenage girls reportedly trafficked to Ghana for prostitution.
In the video uploaded on by Pastor Okezie, the young girls who are about eight claimed that they were lured into Ghana by a man, who happened to be a brother to one of them and he ended up using them as “money-making machines.”
The girls are sixteen years old and below. They alleged further that all the money they were making from the prostitution had been taken away from them by their traffickers.
When contacted, the Spokesman of National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, Vincent Adekoye for comment, he said the agency was aware of the situation.
He promised that the agency had started investigation into the matter and would respond to all the demands made by the girls in the video.
He wrote: “The Agency has commenced full scale investigations following the directive of the DG to ascertain the location of victims, any contact number and other details that will aid our swift intervention towards rescuing them. The Agency has also opened discussions with relevant partners in Ghana on the matter.
“NAPTIP is seriously disturbed by the video and shall do everything within its mandate to respond to their demands and also bring their trafficker to justice. It solicits useful information from all stakeholders on the matter.”
“The Agency has commenced full scale investigations following the directive of the DG to ascertain the location of victims, any contact number and other details that will aid our swift intervention towards rescuing them. The Agency has also opened discussions with relevant state and non state actors in the identified destination countries on the matter,” the agency added.