No less than 10,000 teenage sex workers majority reported to be of Edo state origin presently held captive by sex merchants are to get freedom soon courtesy, the House of Representatives.

Chairman House committee on Diaspora Abike Dabiri stated that it will liaise with the relevant government agencies and non-governmental organisation to rescue about 10,000 teenage girls of Nigerian descent presently held captive by sex-slave Lords in Morocco and Libya .

The 10,000 girls aged between 13 and 17 years are said to be from the southern part of the country and mostly from Edo state.

Dabiri disclosed during an interactive session with an Edo Based NGO, Christ Without Borders, which came to express concern over the plight of the girls assuring that her committee would work closely with the National Agency Against prostitution Trafficking In Persons (NAPTIP).

She said the committee would also embark on an aggressive campaign in conjunction with the states to educate parents and girls on the effects of prostitution as well as ensure the proper rehabilitation of the affected girls.

“We are going to be working with you and the committee will try to tackle this matter. We are going to sensitize people in the states. And since most of these girls are from Edo state, we will meet with the governor to work out ways of putting this worrisome problem to rest’, Abike assured.

Earlier, Coordinator of the NGO, Mr. Taye Garrick told the committee that the 10,000 girls aged between 13 and 17 years were recruited as sex slaves in Nigeria and were on their way to Europe when they got trapped in Morocco and Libya.

He said some of the girls are pregnant and infected with various diseases including HIV/AIDS and have been sent to jail in these two countries while others are now at the mercy of their slave masters who manhandle them.

According to the coordinator, “these girls were on their way to Europe en route Morocco and Libya but they got trapped in these countries. Our investigations revealed that these girls who were bought from Nigeria have been making efforts to escape from their sex masters but they are in bondage.

“There are estimated to be about 10,000 and are between the ages of 13 and 17. Some are being held in jail, some are housed by Nigerians in these countries and use as articles of sex and are mostly from the southern states with Edo state having the highest percentage amongst them.

“We intend to go with the committee to these countries so that we could identify these girls and help return them home”.

Mr. Garrick also informed the committee that the Libyan and Moroccan authorities were fed up with the presence of these Nigerian girls who have constituted a nuisance to their countries lamenting that the girls are living at a high risk as they could be eliminated or subjected to different inhuman treatment by the host nations.