6 Nigerian Girls Rescued From Prostitution In Burkina Faso (Photo)

 

Six Nigerian girls have been re-united with their families in Ibadan, Oyo State on Wednesday, 22nd of July, after they were successfully repatriated home by the Nigerian Immigration Service,NIS from Ouagadougu, Burkina Faso after being rescued from forced prostitution. .

 

This was revealed in a statement by the Comptroller of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Oyo State Command, Innocent Akatu.

 

The girls kept their parents in the dark about the trip but on getting to Burkina Faso, they realized they were in to work as prostitutes which they objected to. This caused Madam Balikis to lock them up in a room. Luckily for them, one of the girls escaped and alerted the Burkinabe police.

The Comptroller of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Oyo State Command, Innocent Akatu narrates how the girls were lured to the West African country.

 “The victims, after being smuggled to Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso, discovered that they were going to be used for prostitution. They were not even told that they were going to Burkina Faso. These girls were told that they would be given lucrative jobs abroad; one of them was told that she was going to manage a jewellery shop owned by her trafficker.

“One of them was taken from her home in Ikorodu, Lagos State, and driven to Saki in Oyo State. When she asked why it had taken them so long to reach the airport, she was told that the plane had left and that they would have to travel by road.

“The Nigerian embassy assisted in arranging emergency travelling documents for them to return to Nigeria after their lucky escape. We have taken them to the hospital for screening and they are HIV negative.”

One of the returnees, Ganiyat Samuel, said she lived with her grandmother in Ikorodu before she embarked on the journey.

She said, “A woman, called Balikis, came to me and said that I would make more money as a fashion designer if I travel outside Nigeria. I told her that I had no passport, but she said that she would take care of it. I did not tell any of my parents.

Ganiyat was deterred from engaging in prostitution after a medical test revealed she was pregnant. A disagreement ensued between her and Balikis who wanted the pregnancy aborted against her will.

 

Balikis has been arrested for due prosecution.