An 18-year-old girl, Faith Joseph, has narrated how she rejected attempts to force her into prostitution in Mali after traffickers deceived her with the promise of a supermarket job in Lagos.
Joseph, who was working as a maid in Afuze, Owan East Local Government Area of Edo State, said she was offered a salesgirl position in Lagos but later discovered she had been trafficked abroad. Her parents raised an alarm, leading to her eventual rescue and return to Nigeria with the support of the Edo State Migration Agency.
Speaking in Benin City on Thursday, Joseph recounted how she realised the deception when her supposed employers bypassed Lagos and moved her through Cotonou, Republic of Benin, before taking her to Mali.
“In Mali, I was handed over to a woman, but I discovered it was not the job I was promised. They wanted me to engage in prostitution, and I refused. I told them I wanted to go back home, but they said I couldn’t leave until they brought another girl to replace me,” she said.
Joseph said she survived in Mali for three weeks with the help of kind strangers who gave her food until she escaped to a police station, where she sought help.
The Director General of the Edo State Migration Agency, Lucky Agazumah, urged residents to report cases of human trafficking, stressing that Governor Monday Okpebholo’s administration is committed to prosecuting traffickers.
Edo has long struggled with human trafficking and illegal migration, with many victims forced into sex work abroad. In 2018, the Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare II, revoked traditional oaths used by traffickers to bind victims and placed a curse on anyone who continued the practice.
