SAHARA REPORTERS
About 20 girls and women aged between 16 and 24 who were forced into prostitution in Anambra State but were rescued by police personnel in the state in collaboration with the officials of the state government have lamented how they were forced into sleeping with no fewer than 10 men daily while they were fed with N500 worth of food daily.
The Anambra State Commissioner for Women and Social Welfare, Ify Obinabo, who spoke about the rescue of the girls and women said the sex traffic victims were rescued during a raid at one hotel known as Ten Top in Oba community in the Idemili South Local Government Area of the state.
According to Obinabo, the raid on the hotel followed a tip-off from a whistleblower after suspicious activities were observed around the hotel.
The Ministry of Women and Social Welfare has taken the rescued girls to an undisclosed hospital for medical examination.
“Before embarking on this raid, the investigation was carried out by the ministry, and it was discovered that the management of the hotel by the name ‘Ten Top’, Oba trafficked girls from all parts of the country for prostitution purposes.
“The state government is committed to ending all forms of child kidnapping, trafficking and sex slavery in the state and we urge ndị Anambra to always report any suspicious activity around their vicinity for prompt response and action,” Obinabo said.
Speaking to journalists, the rescued girls and women said some of them were taken to the hotel by their friends while some were taken there by their relatives under an agreement to get a job for them in the hotel, only to be forced into prostitution.
They said that they made between N4,000 and N10,000 daily and N15,000 to N30,000 during weekends.
“We have different ‘madams’ at the hotel, and the money we made is taken away by our different direct ‘madams’ while the owner of the hotel, in turn, comes to collect the money.
“It is from the money we make that we pay the rent to the owner every day. We pay the sum of N3,500 as rent on a daily basis from the proceeds of the prostitution business.
“We were given N500 every morning for feeding for the whole day and the food is brought to us by the security guard positioned at different areas of the hotel,” one of the rescued victims who simply identified herself as Ebere said.
They further revealed that they were forced to sleep with about 10 men daily to be able to meet up with the target given to them, adding that if they didn’t meet the target, they risked being tortured and brutalised by their ‘madam’.
According to them, those who brought them to the hotel seized their mobile phones and other belongings before handing them over to another woman who told them that they would only be released if they were able to remit a certain amount of money to her for one year that they would serve her.
Some suspects who were arrested in connection with the trafficking after the raid are currently in police custody from where they will be arraigned before the Children, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Magistrate Court after investigations.
The women’s affairs commissioner vowed to get justice for the victims as she lamented that despite the state government’s efforts to stop trafficking, some people still engaged in the criminal act.
