The Public Relations Officer of the Nigerian Community in Côte d’Ivoire, Davidson Ogbu, has accused the Nigerian government and its diaspora agencies of neglecting citizens trapped in human trafficking networks across West Africa, despite several appeals for help.
Ogbu spoke during an interview with Arise News on Friday, where he condemned the killing of a Nigerian teenager, identified as Destiny, who was trafficked from Delta State to Côte d’Ivoire and murdered under unclear circumstances. He described her death as one of the darkest moments for Nigerians living in the country.
“Her name is Destiny. She was murdered in cold blood,” Ogbu said. “The murder shocked the whole of Côte d’Ivoire. Such a gory, horrific image from what we saw from the scene of the murder.”
He explained that Destiny’s death highlighted the growing problem of child and sex trafficking involving Nigerian minors in the region.
“This is just an underage girl that was trafficked to Côte d’Ivoire for prostitution,” he said. “We’ve been doing all we can, but they keep coming. There’s no way you can stop this completely.”
According to him, the Nigerian community in Côte d’Ivoire has rescued and repatriated between 1,800 and 2,000 trafficked girls since 2020, many of them minors as young as 10.
“We have repatriated over 1,800 to about 2,000 girls in the past three years,” Ogbu said. “Underage girls, girls below 16, 14, 13, even 10. We’ve seen girls aged 10 being trafficked into the country.”
Ogbu criticised Nigerian authorities for failing to support or coordinate these efforts, saying the community has been left to bear the emotional and financial burden alone. He singled out the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) and the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO), accusing both of failing to meet expectations.
“With all due respect, if I want to talk of NiDCOM or NIDO, they’re not doing their job,” he said. “We expect more from organisations taking care of Nigerians in the diaspora. Sometimes I feel they come after the medicine, after death. They are not proactive.”
He said the Nigerian Embassy in Abidjan was aware of Destiny’s murder and was cooperating with Ivorian police on the case. “We work with the Nigerian embassy in Ivory Coast. They are aware of this case and the murder,” Ogbu said. “The embassy and Ivorian police are on top of the case, and we hope that Destiny gets justice.”
However, he added that NiDCOM Chairperson Abike Dabiri-Erewa had not responded to the incident. “Madam Abike Dabiri has not been officially briefed as far as I know,” he said. “This is the life of a Nigerian we’re talking about. Nothing has been heard from her side, no response, nothing.”
Ogbu also called for leadership renewal within NiDCOM and NIDO, saying they need “new people with new ideas.” “With all due respect, I think Madam Abike Dabiri has been there for too long,” he said. “It shouldn’t take social media influencers like VeryDarkMan to get the government’s attention.”
He further lamented that Nigerian authorities had failed to reimburse funds spent by the community during past repatriation exercises. “The Nigerian community, both in Ivory Coast, Ghana, and all within West Africa, have been spending a whole lot of money trying to repatriate these young girls,” he said. “The authorities promised they would reimburse us, but up till now, nothing has been heard.”
Ogbu questioned the effectiveness of agencies such as the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS). “Where are our immigration officers and government agencies when these things happen?” he asked. “We can’t keep doing this alone. We need action, not promises.”
He praised activist VeryDarkMan for drawing attention to the crisis. “If not for VeryDarkMan, who visited Ivory Coast, we would not have been able to get the kind of assistance we received last time,” he said. “He did much more than Abike Dabiri, with all due respect.”
Ogbu said the community’s efforts go beyond seeking justice for Destiny, stressing that their goal is to stop the trafficking of Nigerian girls across West Africa. “We are doing all we can to collaborate with Ivorian authorities to make sure Destiny gets justice,” he said. “But beyond that, we need to protect our girls before they end up like her.”
