In an overnight operation, representatives of the Nigerian Embassy and an NGO with headquarters in Senegal saved the lives of twenty-four Nigerian girls who had been sexually exploited in the Tamaccounda and Kedougou districts of Senegal.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Dakar was informed of this on Sunday by Dr. Salihu Abubakar, the acting ambassador of the Nigerian Embassy in Senegal.
He claims that majority of the girls, who are between the ages of eleven, thirteen, and twenty-four, are being trafficked to Senegal via Cotonou, Republic of Benin, to the border of Mali, with the intention of using them for sexual exploitation in the Tamaccounda and Kedougou regions.
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“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.
According to Abubakar, the majority of the school-dropped females were from Edo and Delta, with a small number also coming from Imo and Abia, and two more from the Plateau. This information was obtained through preliminary research.
But out of the 24, he claimed that 22 had already been returned home weeks prior, and the remaining two women had arrived in Nigeria safely on Saturday.
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The victims’ current state of health and other facts pertaining to the duration of their sexual exploitation in Senegal could not be provided by the diplomat right once.
The envoy stated that the girls’ smooth return to Nigeria demonstrated the enhanced international collaboration between the embassy and the Senegalese-based body in the fight against human trafficking.