In a joint effort, the Nigerian embassy and a Senegalese NGO successfully conducted an overnight rescue operation, saving 24 Nigerian girls from sexual exploitation in Senegal’s Tamaccounda and Kedougou Regions.
Salihu Abubakar, Nigeria’s acting ambassador in Dakar, Senegal, revealed this development on Sunday.
He disclosed that the rescued girls, many of whom are minors aged between 11 and 24, were trafficked to Senegal via Cotonou, Republic of Benin, and then transported through the Mali border for the purpose of sexual exploitation in the aforementioned regions.
“These girls and many more are being trafficked to Senegal, through Cotonou, Benin Republic via Mali to the Senegal border for prostitution,” the ambassador said.
Mr Abubakar said that the preliminary investigation revealed that most of the school dropouts were girls from Edo and Delta, adding that a few were from Imo and Abia, while two others were from Plateau.
However, he said that 24 and 22 were already repatriated weeks ago, while the two other ladies were repatriated to Nigeria on Saturday and landed safely in Nigeria.
The diplomat could not immediately give the details of the health status of the victims and other information regarding the time they spent while undergoing sexual exploitation in Senegal.
The envoy said the successful repatriation of the girls to Nigeria was a clear indication of the strengthened international cooperation in combating human trafficking between the embassy and the Senegalese-based NGO, ‘Free the Slaves’ (La Lumiere in French).
“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,” Mr Abubakar said.
