At least 231 Nigerians trafficked in Ghana, among whom are 219 forced into cybercrime in the former Gold Coast, will arrive Lagos on Friday, April 25, 2025 and be handed over to the Nigerian government officials.
This was contained in a statement issued on Thursday by Magnus Eze, Special Assistant on Communication and New Media to the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu.
The statement noted that the Federal Government commended the Ghanaian authorities for rescuing the 219 young Nigerians who were trafficked to the West African country and forced into cybercrimes.
It also restated its commitment to providing the youth with technical education and skills to curb growing unemployment.
Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu stated this when she visited the Economic and Organised Crimes Office (EOCO) in Accra, Ghana, where the victims of trafficking were being detained.
In a closed-door meeting with the agency‘s Executive Director, Mr. Bashiru Dapilah, and two of his directors, the minister further appreciated the operatives for doing their job professionally, especially treating the victims with dignity.
Odumegwu-Ojukwu, who described as callous and inhuman, the exploitation of innocent young people by the traffickers, was in Ghana for the official launch of the 50th anniversary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Extraordinary Session of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers on the withdrawal of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.
She advised Nigerian youths to stay away from people who may promise them irresistible job offers outside the shores of the country, stressing that it might just be bait to lure them into slavery.
She stated that the Nigerian High Commission in Ghana had last Thursday alerted her of the incident. How the victims were held under inhuman conditions by the perpetrators before the sting operation that burst the evil syndicate, the statement added.
She said: „Before their rescue, these boys had been locked up in about 25 rooms within the estate where they were used to perpetrate cybercrimes. At the time of their arrest, many of them, being locked inside confined spaces with computers for weeks on end without being let outside, were even unable to get their eyes to adjust to the sun when they were led outside those dark rooms. Some had been serially abused with visible lacerations inflicted on them by their criminal ‚don‘ while one had his legs broken for not tendering all the proceeds of his cybercrime.“
Addressing the victims at the premises of the Agency, she said that they were lucky to have been rescued, disclosing that many had lost their lives in similar circumstances, while others rot in jails in parts of the world.
Count yourselves lucky, as it may not be a benevolent country like Ghana next time. It may not be a circumstance within a location where we have excellent bilateral relations. Some countries take cybercrimes very seriously, and by the time they lock you up, they will throw away the key. We are still trying to this day to ensure that Ethiopia signs our exchange or transfer of sentenced persons MoU so that we can bring those nationals who are trapped in their prisons back to Nigeria. So we don‘t lose even more of them.
We are happy that this commission has excellent relations with NAPTIP, and they have been kind enough. I was humbled when the Executive Director said their interest is not for these young men to get back to Nigeria into the prison system, because that‘s what usually happens. Under that situation, they must hand you to Nigeria‘s law enforcement and correctional facilities, and then you know what will happen. It‘s another cycle of your relatives coming to prison to bring you food,“ Odumegwu-Ojukwu said.
The former Nigerian Ambassador to Spain assured that the federal Government was committed to citizen-centred diplomacy as a cardinal thrust of the foreign policy of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration.
She said that the Tinubu administration‘s Renewed Hope Agenda has laudable programmes, particularly those that give the youth skills so that they do not indulge in crimes of this nature.
Therefore, she urged the victims to take advantage of this second chance that God has given them by implementing some of the federal government‘s intervention programmes.
Know that East, West, home is best. So, when you get home, allow the government to equip you with skills.
I am also using this opportunity to commend other industrious, hardworking and law-abiding Nigerians in Ghana.
I can assure you that Ghana will have the support and cooperation of the Nigerian Government in the fight against organised crime.
It‘s something that our own Economic and Financial Crimes Commission will want to be part of to ensure that we are not seen as headquarters of economic crimes,“ she said.
The agency‘s Executive Director, Mr. Dapilah, said, „We are not looking at this as a Nigerian crime because you have some backing from Ghanaians. We arrested the owner of the estate where they lived, and he will be prosecuted.
We require collaboration between our two countries. The crime is committed here in Ghana, but we know somebody in Nigeria was behind it. So, these persons have been rescued, but the next step is the collaboration to ensure that the perpetrators are apprehended.
As you go home, take the message to our counterpart in Nigeria that we will need collaboration to round up the perpetrators.
We have a law-abiding Nigerian population here, especially where they sell spare parts. We have a lot of them running restaurants where we go to eat Nigerian delicacies,“ Dapilah said.
In his remarks, the Nigerian Chargé D‘Affaires, Ambassador Dayo Adeoye, restated that over 3 million Nigerians reside in Ghana, adding that many of them are doing well and helping the economic development of their host country.
He called for aggressive enlightenment to curb the spate of trafficking involving Nigerians.
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