A Federal High Court sitting in Benin, Edo State has sentenced one Favour Eboigbe to 10 years imprisonment for trafficking six girls to Burkina Faso for prostitution.
Eboigbe was arraigned on 12 counts before Justice A.A. Okeke, with charge No: FHC/B/24C/2009 for trafficking.
It was gathered that the 37 year old man was arrested outside the country by officials of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons in Edo in 2009, following a tip-off.
The victims, who were between the ages of 15 and 21 years, were taken to NAPTIP after they were rescued.
Eboigbe had pleaded not guilty to the offence, which was said to be contrary to Sections 15a, 16 and 19b of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Law Enforcement and Administration Act, 2003, as amended.
Justice Okeke, however, sentenced him to a 10-year jail term, when the case resumed on February 29, 2016.
Meanwhile, the Benin Zonal Command of NAPTIP said it had successfully rescued 1,200 girls in Edo State since 2004 and secured 55 convictions.
The spokesman for the command, Mr. Nduka Nwanwene, who disclosed this to our correspondent, noted that the laws empowering the agency had been strengthened to ensure that Nigerians were not shipped out of the country for sexual exploits by unscrupulous persons.
Nwanwene said, “The first human trafficker was convicted here (Edo) in 2004; the case came before Honourable Constance Momoh, the former Chief Judge of Edo State.
“A woman, who was also trafficking six girls from here to Spain, was intercepted in a hotel in Cotonou, where she lodged the girls and the girls were rescued.
“She was tried and given a three-year jail term. Now, NAPTIP law is stringent; that is why the man was given a 10-year-jail term.”
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