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66-year-old man bags five-year jail for child trafficking
A 66-year-old man, Lawrence Ogonna, has been convicted for assisting to traffic an 18-year-old girl, Deborah Ajon, to Libya.
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons charged Ogonna and secured his conviction.
Speaking to journalists on Friday, the Benue Zonal Commander of NAPTIP, Mr Aganran Alao-Ganiyu, said the agency dragged Ogonna to the Federal High Court, Makurdi on a three-count charge.
He said Justice Hassan Dikko of the Federal High Court, who delivered the judgement last Thursday, found the defendant guilty on the three-count charge of organising foreign travels for prostitution and assisting to traffic the victims, contrary to sections 18 and 13(4) of Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act of 2015.
Alao-Ganiyu said the judge thereafter sentenced the sexagenarian to five years’ imprisonment with a fine of N1m.
Alao-Ganiyu said the agency was expecting more convictions but for the lockdown occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.
He expressed worry over the number of young girls and boys trafficked out of the state for prostitution and forced labour, pledging that the command would continue to do all within its power to bring the perpetrators to book.
He appealed to parents to desist from giving out their children to traffickers who usually disguised as helpers.
