A Ghanaian court has sentenced a 29-year-old Nigerian, Chukwudi Nwachukwu, to 10 years’ imprisonment for trafficking his younger sister and nine other girls from Nigeria to Ghana for prostitution.
The victims, aged between 15 and 18 years, were reportedly lured from different parts of Nigeria with promises of employment at a restaurant but were later forced into sex work upon arrival in Ghana. One of the victims was identified as Nwachukwu’s own sister.
Investigations revealed that Nwachukwu financed the victims’ transportation from Nigeria and worked with unidentified accomplices who recruited them from rural communities across Imo and Plateau states.
According to Prosecutor Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Isaac Babayi, the case came to light after Chief Calistus Eloziepuwa, a member of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO) in Ghana, reported the incident to the police and rescued the victims.
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ASP Babayi told the court that on June 7, 2024, the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) at the CID Headquarters received a report from the Nmai Dzorn Police Station indicating that Chief Eloziepuwa and his team had apprehended Nwachukwu and freed the girls.
Upon their arrival in Ghana, Nwachukwu reportedly kept the girls at his residence in Liberia Camp near Kasoa, where he forced them to swear oaths before a shrine after cutting their pubic hair, warning that they would develop incurable skin diseases if they tried to escape.
Each victim was also given waist beads from the shrine before being moved to Odorkor, a suburb of Accra, where they were compelled to engage in prostitution and pay Nwachukwu GH₵300 daily from their earnings.
The Ghanaian police said they found an exercise book containing detailed records of the victims’ daily income.
Presiding Judge Akosua Anokyewaa Adjepong of the Achimota Circuit Court found Nwachukwu guilty on two counts of human trafficking.
Though the convict pleaded for leniency as a first-time offender, the judge stressed that the seriousness and growing prevalence of human trafficking required a deterrent sentence.
She therefore sentenced Nwachukwu to 10 years’ imprisonment on each count, to run concurrently, and ordered him to pay GH₵15,000 compensation to each of the 10 victims.
The case underscores the rising threat of cross-border human trafficking in West Africa and highlights the crucial role of community vigilance and diaspora intervention in protecting vulnerable young women from exploitation.
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