The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) says thousands of Nigerian girls who are victims of human traffickers are forced into prostitution in neighbouring Mali.The Executive Secretary of NAPTIP, Mr. Chudi Egede told a news conference in Abuja that between twenty thousand and forty thousand girls were discovered in hotels managed by madams from Edo state.
Mr. Egede said that when NAPTIP team visited Mali, Nigerian girls sat outside hotels on wooden platforms soliciting for sexual services from men walking along the street.
According to NAPTIP, most of the girls are victims of human trafficking from Edo and Delta state who dreamt of greener pasture in Europe.
According to NAPTIP, these girls are forced into the thriving sex trade in Mali where prostitution is said to be legal.
According to Mr. Egede, the victims are trafficked through Lagos Cotonou Benin Republic Burkina Faso and Sokoto Niger Republic Burkina Faso routes to Mali, a situation encouraged by the free movement of persons among Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) member nations.
While the anti-trafficking agency cannot expect any change in the ECOWAS Economic Community of Central Africa States (ECAS) treaty for free movement, they however intend to co-opt and increase the responsibility of member nations and protect Nigerian citizen.
Besides Mali with a total population of thirteen million, which is now identified as the largest receptacle in Africa for victims of trafficking from Nigeria, other countries which the agency is set to include in its rescue plans are Libya, morocco and Spain.
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