Fate of Nigerian prostitutes in Europe

The high rate of trafficking of Nigerian women to Libya en route to Italy by boat is alarming.
The traffickers use reception centres as warehouses for these Nigerian women who are later forced into prostitution in Italy and across Europe. In 2016, of the 180,000 migrants to Italy, 37,000 icluding 11,009 women, according to statistics by International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

About 4,000 Nigerian women arrived by boat in Italy in the first six months of last year, almost double the number in the same time period the previous year. More than 80% of these women were trafficked into prostitution.
Most of these women are victims of sex trafficking and have been subjected to serious and weird sexual exploitations while many are forced into prostitution in Libya. Most of these women arrive in Italy with debts of 40,000 to 60,000euros for their journey from Nigeria to Italy. T

hese women are being lured with false promises and superstitious traditional ceremonies to recruit and gain psychological control over them and they are led to believe terrible things will happen to their families if they fail to honor their debts. They are then forced into prostitution on streets and brothels across Europe.
Now with the civil unrest in Libya trafficking has been become difficult and only very organised trafficking gangs like Nigerian and Eritrean trafficking gangs are able to transport large numbers of people through Libya. These women are given a phone number when they leave Nigeria, which they use to notify a contact in Italy on their arrival.

These contacts mostly wait until the woman has her resident permit or refugee status document and they just go pick them up from these centres.
Government of these countries and the Nigerian government should indentify these women as they enter Libya instead of the usual procedure for asylum seekers. They should be mentored and enlightened in order to combat the sexual exploitation because most of these women are forced into the illicit trade.

Bumnaris Philip Miyani,
Department of Mass Communication,
University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri

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