TheCable

Forty-one Nigerian human trafficking victims were on Monday evacuated from Bamako, Mail, by the federal government.

The girls arrived Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos aboard a Nigeria air force plane.

Abike Dabiri-Erewa, senior special assistant to the president on diaspora matters, and officials of the National Agency for Protection and Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) welcomed the victims back to the country.

Dabiri-Erewa said the victims had sent a distress call to the government, noting that President Muhammadu Buhari had issued a directive to evacuate and rehabilitate any Nigerian stranded outside the country.

She said the girls’ yearn for economic opportunities led them into the hands of those who lured them abroad.

“They were deceived into embarking on the journey. We will ensure we train them to the state of proficiency in different vocations, after which we will trace their parents and counsel them,” Dabiri-Erewa said.

“We will monitor the girls for two years so they do not sell their vocational equipment. It goes beyond poverty for them to embark on such a mission.

“The government had to rescue them because they sent a distress call. This made Buhari direct the service chiefs to wade into the matter to rescue the girls.”

The evacuation was conducted by the ministry of defence, Nigeria air force, office of the senior special assistant to the president on foreign affairs and diaspora and NAPTIP.