The Nigerian community in Côte d’Ivoire has accused the Federal Government of neglecting its citizens trapped in human trafficking networks.
The group revealed that more than 2,000 Nigerian girls, some as young as 10, have been trafficked into the country for prostitution in the past three years.
The Public Relations Officer of the Nigerian Community in Côte d’Ivoire, Davidson Ogbu, made this known during an interview with ARISE News.
He lamented that the Nigerian government and its diaspora agencies have failed to protect citizens caught in trafficking rings.
“We have repatriated over 1,800 to about 2,000 girls in the past three years. Underage girls, girls below 16, 14, 13, even 10. We’ve seen girls aged 10 being trafficked into the country,” Ogbu said.
He described the situation as a humanitarian tragedy caused by government negligence, adding that the Nigerian community had been funding and managing the rescue and repatriation of victims since 2020.
Ogbu spoke about the gruesome murder of a trafficked teenager, identified as Destiny, who was taken from Delta State to Côte d’Ivoire and killed under mysterious circumstances.
“She was murdered in cold blood. The murder shocked the whole of Côte d’Ivoire. Such a gory, horrific image from what we saw at the scene of the murder,” he said.
He faulted the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission and the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation for failing to protect citizens abroad, saying both agencies had become reactive rather than proactive.
“With all due respect, if I want to talk of NiDCOM or NIDO, they’re not doing their job. We expect more from organisations taking care of Nigerians in the diaspora. Sometimes I feel they come after the medicine, after death. They are not proactive,” he said.
Ogbu urged President Bola Tinubu’s administration to reform NiDCOM and other related institutions, saying they are disconnected from the realities Nigerians abroad face.
He also appealed to the National Assembly to investigate the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and the Nigeria Immigration Service over their failure to curb cross-border trafficking.
According to him, “We can’t have Nigerians dying abroad and leaders pretending not to see. Justice for Destiny must not just be a slogan, it must be an action.”
