The Delta State Government has returned a 15-year-old girl trafficked for child prostitution to her family in Akwa Ibom State.

The victim was on April 9, 2020, found in an uncompleted building around 1 am by landlords on security surveillance in the midwifery area of Okpanam in Asaba, the state capital

Asked what she was doing at the location at that time of the day, the teenager explained that she was beaten and pushed out of the house by her madam for refusing to engage in prostitution with men she was bringing to her.

The case manager and member of the Delta State Child Rights Implementation Committee, Patrick Ochei, said on Saturday that it was discovered that the victim, who hails from the Ikot-Ekpene Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, was tricked from her parents to live with a wealthy woman in Delta, where she would be sent to school.

Ochei stated, “The girl appeared intelligent and could speak well; on getting to Delta, she was handed over to a young woman, who lives alone and is into prostitution. Report revealed that the woman goes out at night and returns the next day and most times, she arranges for men to come and sleep with the girl.

“But the girl would refuse her and state that that was not what she was brought to do; and that oftentimes resulted in severe beating from the lady and threats to kill her and nobody would find out.

“So on that fateful night, the victim refused her pressure again and she was beaten and thrown out of the house, while the lady locked the door and left for her night runs.

“After hearing from the young girl, the committee, through Mrs Bridget Anyafulu, took her into custody and alerted the police, who were able to effect the arrest of the woman later that day.

“And the Chairman of the Child’s Rights Implementation Committee and Permanent Secretary in the Delta State Ministry of Women Affairs, Community and Social Development, Mrs Kevwe Agas, was able to reach out to her counterpart in Akwa Ibom State and made efforts to return the girl to her people, but that was not possible due to the COVID-19 lockdown.

“The victim had to remain in the custody and care of the Child’s Rights Implementation Committee member, Mrs Bridget Anyafulu, for the past three months until the final approval by the state government for her return to Akwa Ibom State”