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| © UNICEF Nigeria/2006/Nwosu |
| Jane was trafficked from Nigeria to Gabon when she was 8. She is one of the thousands of victims of trafficking in the region. |
By Francis N. Nwosu
Abuja, Nigeria, 2006 - Jane*, 15, is eager to get beyond her painful past. Jane was a victim of child trafficking, a widespread phenomenon in Nigeria. She was taken away from her village and trafficked to Gabon, via Cameroon.
“I was only eight years old at the time,” she says. “A woman that we knew took me away while my mother was ill in the hospital. I was a child, and I had no choice but to follow her”.
“We spent two days at sea before reaching Cameroon and later Gabon, where she handed me over to a friend of hers,” remembers Jane. “After about one month, she took me to her house where I met my sister, who had been taken from our home some months earlier.’’
Jane’s experience was no different from that of thousands children who are victims of trafficking in Nigeria every year. She was abused, exploited, and refused education and care. She had to work, selling items like cigarettes, kola-nuts and liquor at a street corner.
“My two years with the woman in Gabon were painful. We were not allowed to go to school while her children were able to get an education. We had no clothes and wore tattered dresses and we were very often beaten and denied food. When we were offered meals, they were leftovers, and the quantity was often measured in proportion with the money we made from the day’s sales.’’
Jane and her sister were also engaged in domestic chores, including laundry and cooking for the woman’s family. “My sister and I lived under forced labour and the harsh treatment inflicted on us attracted the attention of a neighbour who called in the police to come to our rescue.’’ READ MORE HERE
Photo cerdit: UNICEF
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