The Seme Area Command of the Nigeria Immigration Service on Saturday welcomed 66 trafficked Nigerians repatriated from Ghana.
The News Agency of Nigeria reported that the group, which arrived at the Seme-Krake Joint Border Post office around 4 p.m., included 59 women and children, as well as seven young men.
The Area Controller of the Seme Command, Comptroller Abdullahi Adamu, briefed the press, highlighting the collaborative rescue efforts with the High Commissioner in Ghana.
“The rescue mission was our collaborative efforts from here to Ghana, our attaché in Ghana, with the assistance of the high commissioner in Ghana.
“They assisted us in apprehending these people, and then they returned them to us. Now, from here, we will hand them over to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), from where they will find their way back to their different destinations. They are 66 in number, male and female,” Adamu stated.
A group photo was taken with the delegation from Ghana shortly after the arrival of the rescued individuals.
Adamu emphasized that the NIS was actively working with the Ghanaian government to combat human trafficking, noting the operation’s significance in demonstrating the commitment of Comptroller-General Kemi Nana to addressing migrant smuggling, human trafficking, and the protection of vulnerable migrants.
Detective Chief Inspector Kpeli Kofi from the Interpol Unit, part of the Ghanaian delegation, explained that the rescue involved the anti-human trafficking unit of the Ghana Criminal Investigation Department.
“We rescued the trafficked Nigerians through collaborative efforts with the anti-human trafficking unit of the Ghana Criminal Investigation Department,” Kofi said.
Inspector Mutilda Dellir of the Ghana Police’s Anti-Human Trafficking Unit revealed that some of the trafficked individuals had come to Ghana under false pretenses.
“We realised somebody may have influenced their coming to Ghana because they said that when you work in Ghana, you have a lot of money, so that is the reason they are coming to Ghana,” Dellir explained.
She added that some traffickers brought the individuals, including mothers with children, to Ghana without revealing the truth.
“Consequently, we have to plan and organise with the Nigerian Embassy in Ghana, and bring them back since this is not the first time anti-human trafficking in Ghana and then NAPTIP in Nigeria are doing this,” Dellir noted.
Dellir also mentioned that eight women were found in different locations in Ghana engaging in prostitution. She emphasized the ongoing human trafficking issues in both Ghana and Nigeria and the need to assist vulnerable individuals.
One of the trafficked Nigerians, Uche John from Port-Harcourt, shared her ordeal of being lured to Ghana with promises of a better life but instead being forced into prostitution. Sl
She expressed relief at being back in Nigeria and having learned her lesson.
NAN recalls that on July 4, the Seme Area Command of the NIS rescued five victims of human trafficking in Côte d’Ivoire, and on July 20, the Federal Government announced the rescue of an additional 58 Nigerian women and children trafficked to Ghana.
Director of Media, Public Relations, and Protocols for Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission, Abdur-Rahman Balogun, disclosed that a total of 105 people have been rescued over the past few months.
