by Ademola Olonilua
Ideally, at the age of 14, a child ought to
be in secondary school. Being a formative year, parents and wards know that
they have to provide the child with the best so as not to mar them for life.
Such is not the case of 15-years-old Abigail
(not real name) who was sold into child labour by her aunt. She left Togo and
was brought illegally to Lagos by the aunt. At 15, she has never been to school.
She told Saturday People that her
ordeal began when her aunty took her to a woman who claimed she could get her a
job.
She got a job quite alright, but the price
she paid was far from what she bargained for.
Abigail, who spoke through an interpreter,
said, “I have never attended a school in my life. I used to stay with my aunt
and her husband in Ikotun, Lagos.
“She brought me to Nigeria from Togo. Last
year, my aunt took me to a woman who claimed to be able to get me a job. The
woman said she could take me somewhere she was sure I would get a job.
“The next day, the woman took me to another
woman whom she identified as my new boss. I don’t know her name but she was
referred to as Iya Victor. Iya Victor asked me if I was sure I could live with
her and I said yes, I could. I stayed with her for about a year.”
She told Saturday People that she
stayed with Iya Victor for about a year during which time she was beaten
regularly.
She said her days there were filled with
unhappiness and misery.
“All through my stay with her, Iya Victor
beat me every time. She beat me with anything she laid her hands on, sometimes
with an electric cable. I have injury marks on my body from the beatings I got
from her,” she said.
Ekaette added that Iya Victor gave her
bizarre rules and failure to adhere to them meant stiff punishment.
On occasions, when the beating became
unbearable, she would run away from home.
She told Saturday People, “It was a
rule that I had to wake up before her in the morning. If I did not, I would get
beaten. The day must not break before I wake up or it would be hell for me.
“One day, when I couldn’t take it any longer,
I told Iya Victor that I wanted to go back to my aunty’s house. She said I
should tell my aunt to return her money before she could release me.
“I do not know how much the money is. I told
her that I did not know how to reach my aunt’s. I pleaded with her to help me
to call her. But that never happened. The regular beatings continued.”
Then, she finally decided to run away for
good.
With no destination in mind, the girl said
she began wandering the streets of Lagos, hoping she could find her way to her
aunt’s house.
Saturday People learnt that she soon met a
woman, identified simply as Iya Prayer, who seemed concerned about her.
Iya Prayer was said to have asked where she
was going to and why she was wandering alone.
The woman later promised to take Abigail to
her aunt’s place the next day. But unknown to her, she was jumping from frying
pan to fire. She ended up staying with the woman for about two months.
“When Iya Prayer saw me and I told her
everything that happened to me, she offered to help. She told me I could stay
with her till the next day, then she would take me to my aunt’s place.
“All these happened in Ikotun, Lagos. The
next day when we were supposed to go to my aunt’s place, Iya Prayer and I got
on a bus,” she recalled.
The teenager told Saturday People that
when she noticed the journey was longer than usual, she asked Iya Prayer where
they were going.
“I told her about my observation and she told
me we would soon get there. The next thing I knew; we were at Benin in Edo
State. She announced to me that we were in Benin, her hometown. She said that
if I stayed with her, her husband would put me through school,” the teenager
said.
But the girl’s experience at Iya Prayer’s
house was worse. Her host did not have a house, so they had to live with
security guards in a makeshift apartment.
She said she was regularly abused physically
and orally by her host.
“She beat me up a lot. Sometimes, she would
not give me food for hours. Iya Prayer does not have a job.
“She lived off begging for money from people.
She did not have a house in Benin; it was some Hausa men, who worked as
security guards, that allowed us to live temporarily with them.
“There was a day one of the Hausa men gave me
money and sent me to buy noodles for him. The owner of the shop – a woman – was
surprised to see me and asked me if I was attending a school. I lied that I
was.”
“Anytime I go to buy things from the shop,
the owner would ask me the same questions and I always lied to her. She kept
asking me to say the truth so that she could help me, then I opened up to her.
“I told her my predicament and she promised
to help me. The shop owner said she would have allowed me to stay with her, but
Iya Prayer could easily trace me. I stayed in Benin for about two months,” she
said.
According to the girl, one day, Iya Prayer
sent her on an errand and she got raped.
“She told me to take food to a man. The man
she sent me to usually helps us with food whenever he can. When I got to the
man’s house, he said I should take the food into his room which I did.
“He joined me in the room and asked me to
strip. I said no and told him that Iya Prayer must not hear about it.The man
tore my clothes and raped me. I ran home crying and Iya Prayer asked me why I
was crying. I told her what happened to me and she told me to keep quiet and
tell no one or else she would injure me.
“After that, I ran to the shop owner to tell
her what happened to me. The woman took me to a police station and the police
arrested Iya Prayer in Benin. I was taken to an orphanage in Benin and was
later brought back to Lagos.”
The Programmes Director of Freedom
Foundation, Mrs. Helen Nwabuoku, the organisation rehabilitating Agail, said
she was brought to them because she was trafficked from Lagos.
She said Agail was handed over to her
organisation by another NGO – Child Protective Network.
Nwabuoku said, “We collaborate with other
NGOs that do similar work. Basically what we do is to reach out to people seen
as societal rejects and rehabilitate them.
“She was brought to us through CPN because
she was trafficked from Lagos. Usually when they get them like that, they try
to bring them to their point of origin. The first thing we do in such cases is
to re-unite the victim with her home which we have done.
“Few weeks ago, we were able to meet her aunt
who is more or less like a mother to her. She is originally from Togo. We
couldn’t have sent her to school or done anything till we met with the family
which we have done.”
The programme director told Saturday
People that while speaking with the family members, it seemed they were
used to selling girls for a living.
“They bring in the girls and give them out.
Based on that, we decided we cannot re-unite her with that family because the
family is also going through counselling now. The counselling is to stop them
from doing such act or they will be prosecuted. Right now, she is attending the
in-house school,” said Nwabuoku.
She stated that the point where Agail was
raped served as “an initiation for the girl.”
“When she goes to deliver the food; the man
violates her, that is the first step. Sometimes they have two or three people
do it at the same time. By the time she does about three times, it becomes a
routine. After that, they prepare her, either to send her out of the country or
they take her to a brothel where she becomes a sex worker and brings returns to
them.
“That is what we are combating here. We don’t
just rehabilitate victims of trafficking but also educate the public. Let us
open our eyes when we see these young ones like these and make reports about
their situation like the lady that saw her and reported the case. She has done
the society a very big favour,” Nwabuoku said.
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