How we’re sold into slavery Child labour victims narrate ordeal

A 12-year-old girl, who was a victim of child labour, has giv­en an insight into her ordeal in the hands of her master be­fore she was rescued by operatives of National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons (NAPTIP).Little Celestina Joseph, who hails from Benin Republic, was once a house­maid in the Gbaja area of Ibadan, Oyo State, where she was rescued by the agency in December, 2013.Going down memory lane, Celes­tina alleged that she is yet to receive a dime from her master whom she served for six months. “One man, who we re­fer to as Oga Philip, came to our village in Cotonou to see my mother.

He gave them some money and promised to pay me N5000 every month. I was forced to sleep on bare floor at the passage of my madam’s house. I only ate once in a day and was expected to clean the entire house, bathe the children and prepare them for school. As soon as they have gone to school, I will move over to my madam’s shop to clean her shop and stay there till afternoon when the children will come back. It is only in the after­noon that I am allowed to eat. Some­times I will be lucky that the children will not empty their plates at night. The left-over is normally my night food.”

She claimed that she was rescued when neighbours who were fed up with the way she was being treated alerted the police. “I broke a plate and my madam forced me to step on them while she threw the fragments of the other broken plate on me.

I sustained several injuries, I became sick and yet she did not bother to attend to me. I was very happy when the po­lice came to our house and arrested her. It was then that I learnt that it was our neighbour who alerted the police.”

When asked if she would like to re­turn home to her parents, Celestina said: “I am happy because very soon, I will become a professional hair dresser. I do not want to go back empty handed be­cause my parents gave me out because of poverty. I hope to return when I am ready and empowered to support myself and my family.”

Another victim, 16-year-old Lateefa, who is currently learning catering and hairdressing at the same time, also al­leged that she was given little or noth­ing. “I was a housemaid in Agege, and for eight months, the agent who hired me did not keep to his own side of the bar­gain. They kept telling me that he is sav­ing it. I realised that it was a fraud when I told him that I wanted to travel home. He asked me to get out of his office or he would call the police. I ran away and went to a church which referred me to NAPTIP office.”

Yet another victim, Oluwadamilola, 19, said she had to resort to prostitu­tion after she ran away from her boss. “I came to Nigeria in 2012, from Benin Re­public. I couldn’t endure the harsh treat­ment meted out to me by my boss. It got to the extent that she started encouraging me to sleep with some of her customers.

“I had to run away to Alagbado in Ogun State, where I decided to go into prostitution. I was rescued when NAP­TIP raided the hotel and arrested most of us.”

During the visit, Saturday Sun corre­spondent realised that most of the girls rescued by NAPTIP were undergoing several trainings in the agency’s custody.

Reacting to Oluwadamilola’s claim, Dr. Joseph Famakin, who is the Lagos zonal commander, NAPTIP, said that prostitution is not an offence but estab­lishing a brothel is one.

“Prostitution is not an offence but keeping a brothel is an offence. So, we are making sure that girls found in broth­els are rescued. We will contact their families and also empower them through training. With the help of other agencies, we have arrested several human traffick­ers and in 2013, we recorded 314 con­victions.”