In June 2024, Plateau State government, through the Ministry of Women Affairs, the Gender and Equal Opportunities Commission and the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, successfully rescued some underaged girls who were trafficked to Ghana for prostitution and sexual slavery by an international trafficking cartel.

Among the victims were three girls between the ages of 18 and 20 from the state who were lured with the promise of good paying jobs only to end up as sex slaves.

During interrogation, one of the victims, 18-year-old Regina (not real name), narrated how her aunt, (her mother’s younger sister who is based in Lagos), facilitated her trafficking after promising her mother that she would be taking her to Lagos to give her a better life after she finished her secondary education with no hopes of continuing her studies.

Regina lost her father when she was 10 and her widowed mother saw her sister as a ray of hope for her daughter’s future. She readily agreed and allowed her sister to take her daughter with her to Lagos, convinced that she would be taken good care of.

According to Regina, her aunt had promised to send her to school or get her to learn a trade so she could take care of her mother and four siblings.

But the story changed dramatically when she got to Lagos where she found out that her aunt had other plans for her, which was to turn her into sex slavery.

According to her, she was first taken to Burkina Faso where she was forced into prostitution against her will, before she was moved to Ghana where she was eventually rescued.

DAILY POST tracked the young girl to her family house in Jos where she narrated her horrific experiences in this interview.

How journey to sex slavery began

According to Regina, “my journey to sex slavery actually started in 2024. I finished my secondary education that year and had high hopes of continuing my education but the prospects were bleak and I knew there was no way I could go to a higher institution.

“I lost my father when I was 10 and my poor mother was left to cater for me and my two siblings as my father’s people had abandoned us to our fate. My mother did everything and anything to see that we had shelter over our head and food to eat. She hawked, worked at construction sites and engaged in all sorts of menial jobs for us to survive.

“So when I finished secondary school and with no hopes of going further, I made up my mind to learn hairdressing or tailoring.

“But in December of 2024, my aunt who is my mother’s younger sister came to Jos from her base in Lagos and told my mother she would take me with her and either sponsor my education or learn a trade. With such a promise from my aunt, my mother and I had no hesitation in accepting the offer.

“To be sincere, we did not know what she was doing in Lagos though she told us she used to travel to Ghana and other West African countries to buy goods like clothes and jewelry which she sold in Lagos. And coupled with the fact that she exuded affluence and spent a lot of money whenever she visited, we had no reason to doubt her.

“When we got to Lagos, I did not initially notice any difference because she lived in a two bedroom flat in a nice estate but one thing I quickly observed was that she stayed indoors during the day and would go out at night with different men and would come back very late or the next day.

“Whenever she was at home, different people, especially ladies would visit her and they would be locked in her room for hours. Whenever I broached the subject of my education, she would tell me to be patient as she was working on it.

“At one point, she told me she did not want me to go to school in Nigeria and was making plans for me to go to Ghana for my studies.

“Don’t forget that this was my aunt and I naturally felt she had my best interest at heart. I was happy that she had such plans for me and my future.

“I was in Lagos for about three weeks or so before my aunt revealed her real self.”

Then came my nightmares

Providing insight into the long journey to suffering, the victim recalled one evening “when my aunt told me that I should get prepared as we would be going to Badagry the next day to meet the man who was arranging for my travel and admission into a university in Ghana. I was overjoyed that at last, my dreams would come through.

“The next morning, as early as 5am, a man and a woman came in a car and we set off for Badagry. When we got to the place, I saw three other young girls, with the youngest being around 16 years old. When we got talking, the girls said they were promised jobs in Ghana and were there to process their travel documents.

“After a while, my aunt who had gone inside a room with the man, came out and said I should go in as the man wanted to capture my bio-data and other things. She directed me to the room and as soon as I opened the door and entered, I saw a man sitting on a chair. The man told me to sit down and offered me a drink.

“I think it was some kind of juice but the taste was different from the normal juice but I had no reason to suspect anything, after all, I was there with my aunt and I thought she couldn’t harm me in any way.

“After taking the drink, I began feeling dizzy and after a while, I must have passed out because after waking up some time later, I realized I was naked on a bed in another room. I felt pain in my private part and when I put my hand on it, I saw blood. The man had raped me.

“I was still a virgin at that time and the man had taken my virginity. I wanted to scream but I did not have the strength and just laid there wondering what had happened to me and where my aunt was. I was still in that groggy stage when the man who was supposed to process my travel documents came into the room with a woman I had not seen before.

“When I asked him what he did to me and where my aunt was, they told me to keep quiet and go along with them or they would kill me. I was so scared and I kept quiet while praying to God to save my life.

“That was the last time I saw my aunt till we were rescued and she was arrested. Meanwhile, the man and the woman forcefully shaved my pubic hair, my armpit and cut off some of my hair.

“They also made an incision on my breast, collected the blood which they mixed with a concoction in a bowl and forced me to drink. After that, they threatened that if I should tell anyone what happened or refused to do whatever they said, that I would die within three days.

“That night, they took us, myself and the three girls I earlier saw in the house, into a vehicle and drove away.”

How I saw myself in Burkina Faso

“I did not know where we were going and coupled with my condition, I must have slept all through the journey. The next day, we arrived at the destination which I later found out to be Burkina Faso.

“We were taken to a house where we were handed over to a lady who said we should call her ‘Madam’. She told us she was from Edo State in Nigeria and did not mince words in telling us that we were in the country for prostitution.

“She told me that she had paid my aunt a huge sum of money to buy me and that I have to sleep with men to pay her off before I can gain freedom,” she narrated amid tears.

She continued: “I was crying all through her narration and was wondering why my own aunt would do that to me. I was praying and calling on God to save my life. Shortly after, the Madam left and few minutes later, a man came in and forcefully raped me. That day alone, four other men came and slept with me. The ordeal continued every other day.

“They paid Madam and the only thing she gave me was food which was twice a day; she would buy condoms, pads and body spray for me but that was all. Every day, she would threaten to kill me if I refused to do her bidding or if I ever tried to betray her.

“Before we even left Lagos, they had seized my phone and there was no way I could contact anyone.

“It started with five men but with time, it could be between five and 10 men. It was an ordeal I will never forget in my life.”

From Burkina Faso to Ghana

According to her, “I was in Burkina Faso for about three months before Madam told me that the place was dull and she would have to take me to another location.

“That same night, a vehicle came and they took three girls, including myself, into the vehicle and drove away. I did not know where we were going to but it turned out that they had taken us to Ghana.

“They took us to a house which turned out to be a brothel where we were handed over to another Madam, who told us she had also bought us from the Burkina Faso Madam.

“In fact, 80 percent of the girls were Nigerians from different parts of the country. I met two girls from Plateau who were also trafficked by relatives.

“In Ghana, it was an average of 10 to 15 men a day. They said I was still fresh and they all wanted to sleep with me. I cried daily and even contemplated committing suicide but the thoughts of my poor mother and siblings kept me.”

How my rescue came

“All I can say is that it was by divine intervention because God saw that I was innocent and decided to intervene at the right time. It happened one night when some security operatives stormed the brothel and arrested everyone they found there.

“When we were taken to a police station, I realized that the Madam was also arrested along with others. The next morning, we were taken to the Nigerian Embassy where I and the other girls from Plateau State were handed over to officials of the Plateau State Gender & Equal Opportunity Commission and the Plateau State Ministry of Women Affairs.

“The officials were crying after after hearing what we had gone through and assured that we will get justice no matter what it took as the Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs Caroline Panglang Dafur, the Chairperson of the Plateau State Gender & Equal Opportunity Commission, Mrs. Olivia Dazyem, as well as Governor Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang had waded into the matter,” she revealed.

Life after returning to Nigeria

In her words: “It has not been easy living with the stigma of a prostitute but since I did not go into it willingly, and with counseling from the Ministry and the Gender Commission, I have been able to live with the stigma and gradually, it is wearing off.

“The ministry and the Gender Commission have been wonderful, I must confess. When we came back, the Commissioner asked us what we wanted to do and I told her I would still love to go back to school and she had taken it up and had promised that the Plateau State government would give me a scholarship and see me through school to any level I desire.

“I will be writing JAMB later this year and by God’s grace, I should be in school when the next admission cycle commences.

“The Gender Commission on its part facilitated a training program for me and the other girls and presently, I am almost rounding up a training on catering which was fully sponsored by the Commission. Coupled with that, they give us weekly allowance and every month, they give us food items and other things.”

Advice to other young girls

“My advice is that they should be very careful with offers that look too good to be true, even from close relatives. If my own aunt could sell me into sex slavery, only God knows what strangers could do.

“I really thank God that my story ended this way. During my ordeal, I heard that some trafficked girls lost their lives. Some were killed when they refused to be used as sex slaves. Some lost their lives while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe but God saved me and gave me another chance. So I will always be grateful for that.”