Bisola David
In the Yauri Local Government Area of Kebbi State, the Nigeria Immigration Service turned over a 26-year-old victim of human trafficking who was headed to Libya to the National Agency for the Prevention of Trafficking in People.
Daily Post reported that this was said by Mrs. Rabi Bashir-Nuhu, the state’s NIS comptroller, on Monday in Birnin Kebbi when she handed the victim over to NAPTIP.
She stated that NIS agents had saved the victim.
“Ajoke Michael was stopped by immigration officers at the border post in Yauri as she attempted to pass into Libya from the Illela border in Sokoto state.
“Ajoke claimed to have received a phone number belonging to someone who was supposed to pick her up at the Illela border when we questioned her.
“She is thought to be a victim of human trafficking,” the comptroller stated.
Nigerians were given assurances by the comptroller that the NIS would not let anyone who benefits from human trafficking evade its reach in the state.
The victim described the situation, saying that a woman, Mrs. Edu, who lived in the Lagos neighborhood of Ikorodu, recruited her to come to Libya for prostitution.
The woman who recruited her for the trip to Libya said she would be joining her daughter and husband, who are stationed there, she continued.
“I got disappointed after I graduated as a hairdresser in Lagos and couldn’t find a job to do.
“I was willing to try anything to stay alive, so when Mrs. Edu mentioned the trip to Libya, I agreed.
She said: “She led me to the park where I boarded a car heading towards the Illela border.”
The state’s head of NAPTIP operations, Alhaji Sadiq Atiku, who met with the victim, promised to find and bring to justice anyone responsible for the scheme to transport the girl to Libya.
Before being reunited with her family, the victim, according to him, would go through rehabilitation and skill training.
Atiku praised the NIS for working with the organization to stop human trafficking in the nation.
