/ 26 August 2001

OBASANJO PLANS TO BRING BACK TRAFFICKED WOMEN, CHILDREN

NIGERIA plans to work with authorities in Africa and Europe to bring back home trafficked women and children, President Olusegun Obasanjo said on Wednesday. Obasanjo was speaking at meeting at the presidential villa here with a group of 32 young women, and one young man, who were returned to Nigeria last week from Guinea. Speaking to reporters, Obasanjo said he had learned the youths had been lured into going abroad with the offer of jobs in boutiques in Europe, only to find that they were being sold into sexual slavery. A report last year by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) said around 4,000 women and youths are trafficked from Nigeria each year, most of them ending up in the sex trade. – AFP