The Federal Government has commended Ghanaian authorities for rescuing 219 young Nigerians who were trafficked to the West African country and forced into cybercrimes.
The government also restated its commitment to providing the youth with technical education and skills to curb growing unemployment.
The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, stated this when she visited the Economic and Organised Crimes Office (EOCO) in Accra, the capital of Ghana, where the victims of trafficking were being detained.
In a closed-door meeting with the Executive Director of the agency, Bashiru Dapilah, and two of his directors, Odumegwu-Ojukwu expressed gratitude to the operatives for doing their job professionally, especially treating the victims with dignity.
Odumegwu-Ojukwu, who was in Ghana for the official launch of the 50th anniversary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Extraordinary Session of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers on the withdrawal of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, described as callous and inhuman, the exploitation of innocent young people.
She said trafficking was modern slavery, obnoxious, and man’s inhumanity to man.
The minister, according to a statement issued by her spokesperson, Magnus Eze, on Thursday, April 24, 2025, urged Nigerian youths to shun people who may promise them irresistible job offers outside the shores of the country, explaining it might just be bait to lure them into slavery.
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Odumegwu-Ojukwu added that the Nigerian High Commission in Ghana had last Thursday alerted her of the incident and how the victims were held under inhuman conditions by the perpetrators before the sting operation that burst the evil syndicate.
She said: “Prior to their rescue, these boys had been locked up in about 25 rooms within the estate where they were used to perpetrate cybercrimes.
“At the time of their arrest, many of them, being locked inside confined spaces with computers for weeks on end without being let outside, were even unable to get their eyes to adjust to the sun when they were led outside those dark rooms. Some had been serially abused with visible lacerations inflicted on them by their criminal ‘don’ while one had his legs broken for not tendering all the proceeds of his cybercrime.”
Addressing the victims at the premises of the agency, Odumegwu-Ojukwu said they were lucky to have been rescued, stating that many had lost their lives in similar circumstances, while others rot in jails in parts of the world.
She, therefore, urged the victims to take advantage of this second chance that God has made possible for them by keying into some of the intervention programmes of the federal government.
On his part, the Ghana anti-graft boss extolled Nigerians in the country, who he said were law-abiding and contributing significantly to the development of Ghana and its economy.
No fewer than 231 young Nigerians are expected to arrive in Lagos on Friday, February 25, and be handed over to government officials.
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