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| The Nigeria Immigration Service Seme Border officers and 66 Nigerians returned from Ghana |
The Nigeria Immigration Service Seme Border Command has received 66 Nigerians who have migrated illegally to Ghana, eight were sex workers, also known as hookups.
The officials of Ghanaian government returned the migrants on Saturday to the immigration office at Seme Border, Badagry, Lagos State.
Comptroller Abdullahi Adamu said this was achieved through collaborative efforts of Nigeria attaché in Ghana, with the assistance of Ghanaian High Commission, which assisted in apprehending these people, and then they were returned to Nigeria. "From here, we will take them to NAPTIP for the federal government to see how Nigeria Immigration is working collaboratively with Ghanaian government. They are 66 in number, male and female. We advise parents and government to beware of this kind of illicit human trafficking."
Insp. Matilda Dellir, anti-trafficking unit CID Ghana, said her agency got information that these numbers of people were from Nigeria to Ghana, "so quickly we had to go interview them and their reason for coming to Ghana. We understood that they said that when you work in Ghana, you have a lot of money, which is the reason why they are coming to Ghana, so at the end of the day, we realise that there is someone fronting their coming, but they are not telling us who took them to Ghana, we had to plan and organise with the embassy, then we bring them, so anti-human trafficking in Ghana and NAPTIP in Nigeria have had a strong synergy since time."
She added that, human trafficking has been an issue in Ghana and Nigeria. And by the time her agency got the information about their presence in Ghana, the migrants were interviewed, it was realised that the people were not in Ghana for good cause. 8 were into prostitution, and the other 56 are mothers and their children.
The Comptroller added that all these children are their sons and daughters "some went with them to Ghana, and some gave birth to them there. I don't know the plans of government to cube this, but I believe government is working positively for them as we will be taking them to NAPTIP, where the proper things will be done. The Federal government knows about this, and they have plans for them. We have seen over time that the government is working because our CGIS, Kemi Nana mni pcc fsi, is always changing us and that officers at the border post have to be vigilant to cub such movements.
"We are 24 hours a day manning the border and still use them to find their means to these illegal routes, and we are always crying and complaining about these waterways. We don't have enough boats, I believe some of them were smuggled through the waterways, and you know there's no immigration point on the water, especially on this Badagry axis. Our boat is at Apapa, so we find it very difficult at times, but still, our CGUSS has ordered new boats that'll patrol the waterways.
"Our advice is very clear everyone should go to passport office to possess their travel documents. With that, it will be easier for people to know your travel history and to know where you are at a particular time or what your business is along the corridor.
Abigel John from Cros Rivers State, who was trafficked to Ghana, told journalists that she spent three months in Ghana as a sex worker before escaping to the embassy with her friend, who is from Abia State, "When I work, my madam collects the money since she was the one that paid for my transport to Ghana. I learned hairdressing, but there was no money to set up. That was why I went to Ghana to work as a cleaner. On getting there, I discovered that it was hookup. If the government can give me some money to set up my business, I will be OK."
In the past few weeks, five Nigerian girls have been returned to Nigeria from Cotedevoir. Adamu said, "after profiling and interviewing them, we got the necessary information from them and took them over because the Benue State governor said he was interested in seeing them, so NAPTIP took the responsibility of taking them to Banue, where they were united with their families."