Hundreds of Nigerian women and girls are trafficked each year into forcible prostitution. They are made to endure slave-like conditions in foreign countries , notably Italy, and the Middle East. WOCON is stepping up its efforts to expose and erradicate this abusive and illegal practice.
Due to many factors including the escalating level of poverty, lack of viable opportunities, fallen family values, the attraction to earn foreign exchange which is more valuable than the local currency and the desire to get rich quick, many parents and guardiwill use any means to force their children into the trafficking ring. They make sacrifices such as the sale of their propertiemake N20000-N40000 (an equivalent of about $200-400 US dollars) deposits to traffickers on behalf of their children.
After recruitment the victim and her family member are subjected to oaths of secrecy before traditional shrines. The victim’s body parts like pubic hairs; blood, fingernails and personal items such as pants are collected and used for the oath taking ritualsoath taking ritual has a multi-purpose effect on the victims, some of which are “to instill fear of terrible reprisals such as death or madness if the oaths are broken by the victim;” “to attract customers for the victims” and “to protect the trafficked victims against HIV/AIDS diseases.
To further perfect the transaction, the traffickers or their agents engage the services of lawyers to draw up a tripartite agreement referred to as a “Friendly Agreement”[8].