Say no to trafficking in Nigeria
Say no to trafficking in Nigeria
Will you stand with Tama and Gift and say #NoToTrafficking?
In North East Nigeria, humanitarian crisis and conflict have put girls’ safety in jeopardy. They’re facing violence, poverty and a lack of employment opportunities which – combined with gender inequality – have contributed to a dramatic increase in girls being trafficked within and across the country’s borders.
Traffickers are taking advantage of these girls’ circumstances. They’re luring girls and young women with promises of well-paid jobs and tricking families into giving up their daughters, but what seems like a way out is a path to exploitation. These girls are experiencing sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, violence and forced labour. They’re being trapped in a life of slavery.
Many girls don’t know the risks until it’s too late. That’s why we’re standing with youth advocates Tama and Gift as they say enough is enough. They’re championing a girl-led movement to say no to the trafficking of girls and young women in Nigeria, and demanding action from federal and state government departments. Will you stand with them? Add your name >
Enough is Enough
Meet Tama and Gift. They’re the youth advocates leading the movement to say no to the trafficking of girls in Nigeria.
They're calling on Nigerian federal government departments and state governments to come together and commit to running a public awareness campaign that reaches the most remote communities, to make sure every girl knows the risks of trafficking.
Will you stand with them?
HANNAH’S STORY
“I want trafficking to stop in Nigeria. I don’t want other girls to go through what I went through,” says Hannah*. Her parents separated while she was growing up and she went to live with her grandmother. When her grandmother died, a friend suggested Hannah move to Abuja for work.
“A friend told me I should come to Abuja where there is money, where there is a job. She took me to a woman, who took me to a house where they were doing prostitution. There were so many girls there. She took advantage of them. Now I am a survivor of prostitution.”
ESTHER’S STORY
“I lost my dad when I was eight years old and then everything became tougher for my mum, my siblings and me,” says Esther*. She was 16 when she travelled to Abuja for work, not knowing her journey would end in abuse and exploitation.
“I came to Abuja with two girls. A woman picked us up and we went to a hotel. I had to start sleeping with men – all kinds of men. She said if I didn’t, I’d have to pay her all the money back [for the journey].
"I didn’t want my life to be that, I was forced into it.”
*Names have been changed to protect identities