How Nigerians lured to Ghana end up in brothels

Commercial sex workers

Ghanian journalist, Meshack Okai of PN Media – Ghana – writes Arewa PUNCH on the fast growing and embarrassing sex trafficking scandal currently rocking Ghana, and involving many unsuspecting and impressionable young Nigerian girl who are lured with job promises but end up in brothels.

A growing crisis of sex trafficking involving young Nigerian girls in Ghana’s mining town of Obuase has come to light, with victims lured under the pretense of legitimate employment only to find themselves trapped in the sex trade.

The heartbreaking testimony of a young Nigerian girl who managed to escape her traffickers reveals the dark underbelly of a thriving illicit industry in the bustling town.

The girl, whose name is being withheld for her safety, told a Ghana based media, PN Media in a documentary titled “From Hope to Horror, the Obuasi Nightmare” which exposes a disturbing reality of how young Nigerian women are being lured to Ghana under false pretenses for sex trade.

The victim had trusted her boyfriend when he asked her to move to Ghana, believing she would be managing his business.

“He said he had opened a business that I should manage for him,” she recalled. But upon arrival, the reality was starkly different.

“I found out that they had already paid him to bring me here,” she said and was handed over to a strange girl with no clear explanation.

Soon, her hopes unravelled. When she questioned her boyfriend about their living arrangements, he dodged the topic. Eventually, he revealed his intentions: “The way you are in Nigeria and your fellow girls are here making money,” he hinted.

The shocking truth was that she was expected to sell her body, a betrayal that left her devastated. Trapped in Obuase, she was told she owed a large debt.

“Arriving in Obuase, they told me I owed a huge amount of money, and I had to sleep with men to pay off the debt,” she explained.