As
they step onto the plane from different Nigerian cities, headed for
Europe in pursuit of greener and sparkling pastures, the picture of a
better life in the not too distant future is all that comes to mind.
Coming from very humble backgrounds where daily living is hellish most
of the times, presented with a rare opportunity to taste Europe where
life, according to the tales they have heard in the past, is almost a
bed of roses, is like handed a free ride to paradise. But for some young
Nigerian ladies, all those lofty dreams have come crashing like a pack
of cards. Their pursuit of a better life in Europe has come at a heavy
price – they have sadly ended up as sex slaves, forced into prostitution
against their wish.
Paris-based photographer Elena Perlino, a native of Italy, in a publication in UK’s Daily Mail
on Tuesday, captured vividly through her lens, the agonising experience
of these young Nigerian women whose dreams of tasting success in her
native Italy and other parts of the continent has ended in despair and
heartbreak. According to Perlino, who began to notice the presence of
young African women working on the streets during her trips from Turin
in Italy, some of the ladies were trafficked to Italy under the guise of
working as nannies or in factories. But on hitting their destinations,
they soon discovered it was a different ball game entirely. It was too
late. They are in for one perilous time of their lives.
“I decided to start from this surreal
vision to tell a story. I have been working on the topic for several
years, focusing mainly on the Italian connection,” the Italian said. “My
work attempts to show a complex phenomenon that crosses Italy from
North to South. This involves many cities including Turin, Milan, Genoa,
Rome, Naples and Palermo and thousands of Nigerian and Italian people.”
She further gave a narrative on how some
of the women come to Europe in the firm belief of making resounding
headways through legitimate endeavours so as to support families members
back home in Nigeria.
Perlino, who revealed that eighty per
cent of prostitutes are from Benin City, Edo State, said that
traffickers in their ploy to enslave the women further, demand at least
50,000 euros (US $60,000) for the cost of bringing them to Europe and
sheltering them until they are able to stand on their own. The ladies,
in a mad rush to pay off the debt and gain independence, endure cold and
freezing nights on the streets, risking the wrath of gangsters and the
Police who are constantly on their trail.
It is not the first time that Nigerian
prostitutes in Europe would be grabbing the headlines, the painful
experiences has provoked concerns over the years. Last year, the Spanish
police busted a ring that smuggled young women from Nigeria to that
country, forcing them into the illicit trade after performing some
rituals on them. Six Nigerian nationals, including the suspected woman
ringleader were arrested in that episode.
Also last year, Nigeria’s ambassador to
Russia, Asam Asam, said at least 200 girls are trafficked every month
into Russia from Nigeria to prostitute. Like the ones in Italy, many of
these ladies are also tricked with juicy offers before they got on the
plane. It is a situation the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
which labels Nigeria among the top eight countries with the highest
human trafficking rates in the world, describes as worrisome.
PUNCH
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