The Nigerian Embassy, in conjunction with a Senegalese-based non-governmental organisation, has rescued 24 Nigerian girls who were subjected to sexual exploitation in the Tamaccounda and Kedougou Regions of Senegal.
The acting ambassador of the Nigerian Embassy in Dakar, Senegal, Salihu Abubakar, revealed this to the News Agency of Nigeria in Dakar on Sunday.
He claimed that the girls, who were mostly young women between the ages of 11, 13, and 24, were being trafficked to Senegal through Cotonou, Republic of Benin, via the Mali-Senegal border for sexual exploitation in the Tamaccounda and Kedougou Regions.
“These girls and many more are being trafficked to Senegal through Cotonou, Benin Republic, via Mali, to the Senegal border for prostitution,” the diplomat said.
The majority of the school dropout girls, according to Abubakar’s preliminary investigation, were from Edo and Delta; a small number came from Imo and Abia, and two others were from the Plateau.
Of the 24, he said that 22 had already been repatriated weeks prior, and the other two women had arrived safely in Nigeria on Saturday.
The diplomat was unable to provide information about the victims’ health or the length of time they were subjected to sexual exploitation in Senegal.
According to the envoy, the girls’ smooth return to Nigeria was proof of the increased international collaboration between the embassy and the Senegalese non-governmental organisation “Free the Slaves” (known as La Lumiere in French) in the fight against human trafficking.
“Our main goal and number one priority is to discourage the trafficking of our Nigerian girls to any part of the world for prostitution under any disguise,” Abubakar said.
