Young girls and women from Nigeria are being trafficked to Ghana and lured into prostitution by a syndicate under the pretext of securing them jobs.
According to a report by local media Ultimate FM in Kumasi, Ghana’s second largest city, these girls and women are between the ages of 13 and 30.
The Ghanaian-Nigerian syndicate reportedly persuades the girls with lucrative jobs in the West African nation but they end up in brothels.
The girls and women are forced to have sex with patrons of brothels in areas like Asafo, Adum, Tafo Pankrono and the Sokoban Wood Village.
One of the girls, Jennifer who is 24 years old told the local media that
When they (members of the syndicate) see you they will approach you and tell you that when you come to Ghana, you will be working in a ship and they will be paying you plenty money.
Jennifer was working as a waitress in a restaurant in Nigeria but her desire to earn more led to her being trafficked to Ghana.
What they told me was not what is here(Ghana), I was not a prostitute, I was working
Jennifer now has to work to earn about $2000 in order to pay her kingpin to gain her freedom.
Another lady, 24 called Precious who works in a brothel owned by a Nigeria based in Ghana faces similar challenges like Jennifer.
According to her story, it cost less than $5 to attend to a client. Precious was also not into prostitution back in Nigeria and now has to work hard to pay for her freedom.
Another girl told Ultimate FM that “We really want to go back to Nigeria, we are suffering but we have ran out of money, after sleeping with men, she takes the money without given us any, we are owing our land lords, as if its juju, anytime we get money, we give everything to her without saving, maybe they use charm.”
Ghana’s laws clamp down on prostitution but authorities have struggled to eliminate brothels operating in most parts of the country.
Source: Africafeeds.com
