The Executive Director of CLEEN Foundation, Mr. Benson Olugbuo, has revealed that about 85 per cent of Nigerian sex workers in Europe migrated from Edo State.
Olugbuo made the revelation on Wednesday in Benin, at a town hall meeting, titled “Community Awareness: Panacea to Ending Trafficking of Women and Girls.”
He, however, mentioned that the International Organization for Migration (IOM), put the figure at over 60 percent in 2018.
According to him, Orhionmwon, Oredo and Ikpoba-Okha local government areas respectively constitute some of the main recruiting centres for traffickers, and the main areas of departure of irregular migrants seeking to reach Europe.
Olugbuo noted that Nigeria has in the last two years, evacuated thousands of its citizens from Libya and Lebanon after they have suffered several forms of abuses, including enslavement.
He added that the crime of trafficking in persons is clandestine and complex, describing it as modern day slavery and with negative long-term effects on the victims and the society at large, particularly its disproportionate effect on women and girls.
Olugbuo, therefore, called on the traditional institutions, religious bodies and the state government to join its quest to end the scourge of human trafficking in the state.

By Jethro Ibileke