The Edo State Government says it has lost at least a 100 students of Idogbo Secondary School, Benin, to human traffickers between February-May.
Senior Special Assistant to Governor Godwin Obaseki on Human trafficking and illegal migration, Solomon Okoduwa, during an advocacy programme in Benin on Sunday, raised concerns that the secondary school had become the harvesting ground for traffickers.
Okoduwa who asked the students to guard against the persuasions of the traffickers bent on hoodwinking them into embarking on the dangerous journeys to Italy, said the state Task Force Against Human Trafficking will be on the trail of the human traffickers.
He said: “Henceforth, report anyone who tells you to travel to Europe. They are simply taking you through the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea and you may eventually end up in Libya.”
At least 3,400 Edo returnees were received by the state government from Libya in the last six months.
Photo Credit: NAN
