*Found in an uncompleted building by local Vigilante about 1 am
The Delta Government through the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community and Social Development has returned a 15- year- old Akwa-Ibom State girl to reunite with her family after being trafficked to the State for child prostitution.
The girl named Favour Enefiok was taken back to Akwa-Ibom State by a staff of the Ministry of Women Affairs under the Child Protection unit via Akwa-Ibom State Transport company from Asaba.
Miss Enefiok was on the 9th April, 2020, discovered in an uncompleted building around 1am by landlords mounting security surveillance within the Midwifery area of Okpanam in Asaba, the state capital. .
Probing what she was doing at that wee hour of the night, the girl had informed them of how she was beaten and pushed out of the house by her madam for refusing to engage in prostitution with men she was bringing to her.
On that note, one of the Landlords who had the contact of one of the members of the Delta State Child Rights Implementation Committee, had to alert the Committee member seeing it was a case of child abuse.
On arrival at the scene, the Committee members, Mrs. Bridget Anyafulu, a lawyer, and Comrade Patrick Ochei later discovered that the girl who hailed from Ikot-Ekpene Local Government Area of Akwa-Ibom State was tricked from her parents to come live with a wealthy woman in Delta.
The girl who appeared intelligent and could speak well, said on getting to Delta, she was handed to a younger woman who lives alone and was into prostitution. She goes out at night and returns the next day and most a times would arrange for men to come and sleep with the girl.
However, the girl stubbornly refused to participate in the prostitution, insisting that was not what she was brought to do an action that often times warranted severe beatings from the lady who threatened to kill her and nobody would find out.
On that fateful night, Favour refused her Aunty’s pressures again and she was beaten and thrown out of the house, while the lady locked the door and left for the night’s business.
After hearing from the young Favour, the Committee through Mrs. Anyafulu took her into custody and alerted the Police who were able to effect the arrest of the woman later that day.
The Chairman of the Child’s Rights Implementation Committee and Permanent Secretary of the Delta State Ministry of Women Affairs, Mrs. Kevwe Agas was promptly briefed about the situation.
She consciously reached out to the Women Affairs Commissioner and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Women Affairs in Akwa-Ibom State and made efforts to return the girl to her people, but that was not possible due to the Covid-19 lockdown.
Nonetheless, the cheerful Miss Favour Enefiok had to remain in the custody and care of the Child’s Rights Implementation Committee member, Mrs. Bridget Anyafulu for in the past three months until the final approval by the State Government for her return to Akwa-Ibom State.
While in Delta in the three months plus, Favour had learnt skills in hair-making and slippers production, which she desires to continue with as a trade alongside her education.
Favour is the first child of her parents living at Ikot-Ekpene LGA in Akwa-Ibom State. She said she stopped school at primary five and desires to go back to school.
“She was happy while leaving Asaba and smiling uncontrollably as we chatted. A box load of clothes was purchased for her with a new phone and other things to keep her happy as she reunites with her family in Akwa-Ibom State. I can authoritatively testify that Favour had called to confirm that she had gotten home to her parents and siblings. She said as soon as she and Auntie Esther got to the Ministry of Women Affairs in Akwa-Ibom State, she was immediately taken to Ikot-Ekpene to reunite with her parents and siblings”, the case manager, Patrick Ochei narrated.