Nigeria’s High Commissioner to Ghana, Ambassador Olufemi Michael Abikoye, has raised an alarm over the increasing number of young Nigerians who engage in prostitution in Ghana. Abikoye made this disclosure during a meeting with the Nigerian community at the Ceeta-Kel Hotel in Kumasi, calling on relevant authorities to help halt the growing trend. The High Commissioner, who called for alliance with the High Commission to halt illegal activities of some Nigerians, disclosed that he has met with not less than 500 Nigerian girls who were trafficked to Ghana as commercial sex workers in Kumasi.
He, however, appealed to the Ghana authorities to help them secure decent jobs. While struggling to hold back his tears, the High Commissioner lamented that the girls who engage in prostitution were denting the image of Nigeria. CITI News quoted him as saying,
“Let’s face the truth, and let’s talk to ourselves as Nigerians.
“Go and see what aged 14, 15 little girls are doing here.
“I mean, I am a parent and it is something that bothers my heart that can make me cry.
“How can a 10-year-old, a 12-year-old girl be engaging in this type thing?
“I am going there….Is that the place I should be going? Is that what I should do as High Commissioner?”
Ambassador Abikoye had earlier vowed to bring down the cartel behind trafficking of young Nigerian girls to Ghana for prostitution. He decried the increasing incidents of under-aged Nigerian girls, trafficked to Ghana for prostitution, saying he was determined to dismantle the trafficking ring. Addressing Nigerians in Accra, Abikoye had described the activities of the human traffickers as the greatest challenge to the mission in Ghana.
“We have a situation of under-aged girls of 14, 15 being trafficked into the country. The problem is that how will these little girls leave Nigeria to come and be doing nonsense here. You know they are not alone.
“We have the so-called madams. We have been working with the police. I told them I want the madams. And I have agreed with the IG when I met him that I don’t want the madams prosecuted and jailed in Ghana. I want them transferred to Nigeria so that people can see them,” he said.
Recall that the Ambassador resumed as Nigerian High Commissioner to Ghana in August 2017, following the presentation of his Letter of Credence to President Nana Akufo-Addo.
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