A 21-year-old lady from Anambra State, Chika Obiakaeze, has narrated her harrowing experience of being trafficked to Libya under the guise of employment, only to be forced into prostitution upon arrival.

Enrolled in a fashion school in Nigeria, Chika’s aspirations took a devastating turn when a male friend she met on Facebook offered to help her secure a job as a domestic help in Libya, claiming she would earn good pay working for foreign expatriates.

“We aren’t too close, in fact, I can’t remember his surname, when he introduced me to his sister, I thought that he just wanted to help me, I thought it was legit,” Chika recounted in a telephone interview with DAILY POST.

Lured by the promise of a lucrative opportunity, Chika embarked on a perilous journey through the Sahara Desert, enduring treacherous conditions and witnessing the deaths of two boys during the arduous trek.

However, upon arrival in Libya on November 15, 2022, Chika’s dreams were shattered when her supposed benefactor revealed the true nature of the “job” – prostitution.

“She told me that the kind of job I would be doing is called “connection one”. I asked her to explain better that I didn’t understand, and she said that it is called “Prostitution” that I will pay her 1.5 million naira,” Chika revealed.

Faced with threats of being sold or subjected to “juju” (fetish charms) if she disobeyed, Chika reluctantly agreed to the exploitative terms.

She was taken to a prostitution house, where she witnessed young girls being forced into sexual exploitation by their Hausa captors.

“I was afraid but accepted. Then she took me to a prostitution house where I stayed for a month. I saved a little money and got a phone for myself without her knowing. I could no longer stay in that place, the people there were mostly Hausas, forcing little girls to sleep with them,” Chika recounted.

Desperate to escape her harrowing circumstances, Chika sought help from a friend she met on Facebook, who facilitated her escape from the prostitution house in December 2023.

However, her ordeal was far from over. Despite finding temporary employment, Chika was denied her wages, leaving her stranded and struggling to survive in Libya.

“I am so tired, I just feel like ending my life because anything can happen to me over here, I don’t know my faith. I hardly eat, no help for me to come back home,” Chika lamented, pleading for assistance from the Nigerian embassy in Libya to facilitate her return to Nigeria.

Chika’s heart-wrenching story sheds light on the dark reality of human trafficking and the exploitation of vulnerable individuals lured by false promises of employment.

Authorities and advocacy groups are calling for heightened vigilance and stricter measures to combat this heinous crime and protect potential victims from falling prey to such nefarious schemes.