Nigerian "Prostitutes" Languish In Mali After Failed Rescue Mission | Welcome to Linda Ikeji's Blog

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Tuesday 4 January 2011

Nigerian "Prostitutes" Languish In Mali After Failed Rescue Mission
















 A senior Nigerian official says plans to rescue thousands of victims of sex trafficking have failed. Investigators went to Mali earlier this year and estimated that at least 20,000 Nigerian teenagers and women had been smuggled there and forced into prostitution.

A joint operation was then launched with Malian authorities to rescue the women. But Nigerian officials say they have not had enough co-operation from Mali.

The authorities in Mali have refused to comment on the criticism.
“I feel like committing suicide when I remember,” says Yemisi Ogoda about her journey which ended in Mali.
She was handed to a gang who demanded she repay debts for her travel.
After being beaten and locked up without food for two days, the young Nigerian agreed to work as a prostitute to try to pay the debt.

“They said they would kill me if I did not do it. Nobody will know about it, they will just kill me there, no-one will know,” she adds.
She fell pregnant, and was coerced into an abortion. The attempt failed, and, visibly pregnant, she was sold on to another gang, only managing to flee when she was left unsupervised to bathe.

Ms. Ogoda survived by begging in the streets until she managed to contact her family.
The network of migration routes that criss-cross West Africa are known to police as a “hot graveyard for migrants,” because the number who die on the way is  so great.

So-called “trolley-boys,” the trafficking middlemen, run “the relay race,” passing their human cargo onwards, with promises of jobs in hairdressing and  supermarkets.

After receiving reports of sexual slavery from aid workers and clergy, Nigerian officials went to Mali to investigate earlier this year.

They said were “nauseated” by what they had seen: Brothels with cubicles in which young Nigerian women, many in their mid-teens, serviced as many as 20 or 30  clients a night, in order to pay off debts incurred to the “trolley-men.”

“It is clear it is not consensual,” says Arinze Orakwue of Nigeria’s National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons (NAPTIP). “They have no  freedom of movement. They are not allowed to go outside with you, or even to make a phone call.”

NAPTIP’s hard-hitting findings, published on 29 September, also warned of what officials described as “slave camps” in Mali’s north – brothels in the  gold-mining towns of Kayes and Mopti.
Photographs seen by the BBC reveal precise locations and buildings examined by the team.

The findings were given to Malian police and Operation Timbuktu was launched.
“Operation Timbuktu will be executed with the Malian authorities, to free the girls and ensure their safe return to Nigeria,” Simon Chuzi Egede, Executive  Secretary of NAPTIP, said at the time.
Months later, nothing has happened, and the trafficked teenagers and women remain in the hands of criminal gangs in Mali.
“All of us have failed,” says Mr. Orakwue, an assistant director of intelligence and communications at NAPTIP.
“The first thing that is preventing their return is support from the Malian authorities,” he says.
 Source: PM News

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

sad sad sad!!

Nigerians are even trafficking women to poorer countries than Nigeria?
THIS IS SO EMBARRASSING!!!

Mali of all places!

Bushdakta said...

Too many Nigerian men and women selling their yansh abroad. This is why in some parts of Nigeria, you can catch aids just by walking on the street. I don't walk on the streets of those areas. I drive fast when I'm in those areas. Smh.

NG said...

Oh my word :(

I hope they are still working on this case, and if there is this, there are several more, think of Milan and other countries where there is a reputation of "Nigerian Prostitutes" I am sure most of them are trafficked.

chichi said...

@bushdakta u r a big fool, if u dont understand d meaning of trafficking den shut up, some were deceived n r being held hostage against their will,its so sad wat dey r passing thru n u r here running ur dumb mouth it can happen to ur sister o

Anonymous said...

oh my gawd!....oh no!...i don't know what to say..................................................................................................................................................................*audible sigh!*.. Our govt have a lot to do to get the women out & parents have a huge responsibility here also! An enlightenment programme should continuously be carried out by NGOs & local govts to reach each community...if not, the pimps would continue to succeed in recruiting innocent gals mostly from the inner villages becox of poverty!

Anonymous said...

chichi...it seems as if you are the fool. Can't you see the humor in what Bushdakta was saying? And please who made you the "comment censoring police"?...there's something called freedom of speech..ok?

Anonymous said...

Other countries making slaves of Nigerians while the Nigerian government is playing kalo kalo. Am I surprised? If it were a country that valued its citizens, by now there would be SAS, KGB, CIA, Marines, Mossad and what have you crawling all over the place and finishing off anyone who stood between them and their rescue operation.

henryik said...

Modern-day slavery.Make no mistake about it,these ladies are victims,not only of the traffickers but also of the Nigerian state.If Nigeria provided a better socio-economic environment,most of these ladies would not be stranded in the Malis of this world.

*Check out some posts here on prostitution:http://henryik2009.wordpress.com.

Ob said...

Very dehumanising! Please, whatever it takes, the Nigeria Govt should bring these ladies back home; for them to salvage whatever remains of their lives! Mali of all place?! God forbid bad thing!!

President GEJ, this should be given higher priority than the "almighty" party primaries. Engage Mali at all level; use both orthodox and unorthodox channels. Appeal, plead, cajole, threaten and even harrass them. It's an insult! A national disgrace!

NANTIP should also intensify efforts at educating the guillible ladies and girls all over the place. Our security agents should double their afforts at our numerous but porous borders. The tokunbo helicopters bought from France should be put to better use patrolling the border areas! Prevention is always bettr, cheaper, healthier...

Unfortunately, this is another evidence of a failed state! Nigeria.. we hail thee..

Ob said...

Very dehumanising! Please, whatever it takes, the Nigeria Govt should bring these ladies back home; for them to salvage whatever remains of their lives! Mali of all place?! God forbid bad thing!!

President GEJ, this should be given higher priority than the "almighty" party primaries. Engage Mali at all level; use both orthodox and unorthodox channels. Appeal, plead, cajole, threaten and even harrass them. It's an insult! A national disgrace!

NANTIP should also intensify efforts at educating the guillible ladies and girls all over the place. Our security agents should double their afforts at our numerous but porous borders. The tokunbo helicopters bought from France should be put to better use patrolling the border areas! Prevention is always bettr, cheaper, healthier...

Unfortunately, this is another evidence of a failed state! Nigeria.. we hail thee..

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