Ondo State youths have been cautioned against an ongoing human trafficking being disguised as employment that the young people are falling for.
Orange fm’s Flora Iweanya reports that a lot of youths have fallen victims and are already trapped in Burkina Faso after they were deceived that they will get a job at a gold mining company and get paid in dollars.
Over the weekend, an Ondo State youth representative and social media influencer, Oluyemi Fasipe raised an alarm on the newly devised means of trafficking youths from Ondo State to Burkina Faso.
Fasipe raised this alarm on his social media platform where he also posted voice notes, videos and pictures sent to him by those who are already stranded in Burkina Faso.
Fasipe therefore called on the concerned government agencies such as Ondo State Government, NAPTIP, NIDCOM, NIS and the Nigeria Police to promptly wade in, and prevent more unsuspecting Nigerian youths from falling prey to the human trafficking net.
According to a voice note posted by Fasipe on his Yemiefash online WhatsApp platform and X page, a trapped Ado-Ekiti-based man , said scores of Nigerian youths have been lured to Burkina Faso under the guise of working for a gold mining company, Semafo Gold or Horizon Gold.
He added that he later got to know the human trafficking syndicate as Qnet and was made to realize that he would need to join the human trafficking syndicate by luring two other persons from Nigeria to keep the chain going.
Reacting, the commissioner for Regional Integration and Diaspora Relations, Mr Boye Ologbese stated that the ministry is aware of the situation and has embarked on sensitization programmes to enlighten the youths about the dangerous endeavor.
Ologbese added that his ministry has informed all the appropriate channels about the trafficking syndicate with the hope of arresting the individuals involved.
Also, the Director Ondo state National orientation agency Mr Adelayo Adefolalu stressed the importance of parents to monitor their wards while emphasizing on the efforts the agency is putting into information dissemination on the issue.
There’s however a call for all and sundry to come together as a community and state, to raise awareness, educate the youths, and protect them from the clutches of these criminals as that is the only way to put an end to this distressing trend.