Several Nigerians recently rescued from trafficking gangs in Côte d'Ivoire shared how they were tricked with promises of good jobs, only to find themselves in captivity and forced into sex work.
The survivors include Monica, 17; Juliet, 18; Rejoice, 25; Joy, 22; and Monica Tamah, 38. They said traffickers took advantage of their need for better jobs and transported them to the nearby West African country.
They were rescued in a joint operation by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, authorities in Côte d'Ivoire, and the Global Anti-Human Trafficking Organisation.
In a statement received by PUNCH Metro on Thursday, Prosper Michael, the founder of GAHTO, said the operation came after months of suffering and abuse faced by the victims.
Monica, a 17-year-old from Benue State, shared her story. She thought she was accepting a bakery job in Abuja. Instead, she was taken through Lagos to Côte d'Ivoire.
"I told my parents because I thought the job was real. We later found out there were no jobs after we were locked in a room," she said.
She explained that the victims were watched closely and told to say they were safe during phone calls to their families. "When I spoke to my mother, I started crying, and they took the phone from me. They kept taking money from our small earnings without explaining why," she recalled.
According to her, she and another victim managed to escape with help from kind residents who connected them with GAHTO.
Another survivor, Monica Tamah, went to Côte d'Ivoire hoping to help her family and pay for her daughter's education. Instead, she found out she had been trafficked for prostitution.
"When we got there, we saw there were no jobs. Instead, we were told we were brought for prostitution and had to pay back transportation debts through sex work," she said.
Tamah added that she spent around six months in captivity, where she and others were forced to sleep with as many as 15 men each day. "They made about 50,000 CFA francs daily from us, but we got little or nothing. I was there for about six months before I was rescued," she said.
GAHTO also reported that its representative in Côte d'Ivoire, along with local authorities, rescued three other victims from Benue State in a different operation.
Describing the efforts as a big win against human trafficking, the organization advised Nigerians to check overseas job offers with the right government agencies before traveling.
They also called for better teamwork among governments, security forces, and international partners to break down trafficking networks, save victims, and bring offenders to justice.
Anti-trafficking activists say economic struggles, joblessness, and irregular migration keep many young Nigerians at risk of traffickers, who often pretend their operations are real recruitment or travel chances. They urged people looking to migrate to do their homework and report suspicious recruiters to law enforcement before accepting job offers abroad.
Human trafficking remains a serious crime targeting vulnerable Nigerians looking for better lives overseas. Traffickers increasingly use fake job offers to lure victims into forced prostitution, sexual exploitation, and other forms of modern slavery.
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