Bringing Trafficked Girls Back Not Enough, There Must Be Reintegration and Rehabilitation

Oliver Eya and Boluwatife Ayo-Odewale

Recall that on May 10, 2025, the Minister of Foreign Affairs announced the repatriation of 115 Nigerian nationals from Abidjan, Ivory Coast. According to the minister’s spokesperson, Kimiebi Ebienfa, the returnees, all victims of human trafficking, were flown back to Nigeria aboard a special Air Peace flight at no cost to the government.

“The Minister wishes to inform that one hundred and fifteen Nigerian nationals that are victims of trafficking will be repatriated from Abidjan, Ivory Coast to Nigeria today via a special flight operated by Air Peace at no cost to the Nigerian Government,” the statement read.

Yet, this is just one chapter in a long, painful story.

Recurring Wounds

The trafficking of Nigerian citizens abroad under false promises of greener pastures continues to claim victims year after year. These stories, buried in the news cycle, are cries for help that echo louder with every rescue.

In April 2025, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) received 231 Nigerians rescued from Ghana, mostly young men and teenagers, some as young as 15. They had been exploited in forced labor after being lured with offers of nonexistent jobs. The rescue, carried out in collaboration with Ghana’s Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), revealed the depth of regional trafficking rings that prey on Nigeria’s most vulnerable.

In March 2024, the Nigerian Embassy in Bamako, Mali, coordinated the rescue and return of over 100 Nigerian girls who were trafficked to Mali under the guise of domestic and hospitality jobs. They were instead forced into sex work in harsh and inhumane conditions. Some were beaten. Some returned home with children. Others had been in captivity for years.

In July 2024, a trafficking ring was uncovered in Benue State when two young women trafficked to Ivory Coast managed to share their ordeal in a viral video. The state government stepped in, and a woman responsible for their trafficking was apprehended.

That same year, Nigeria’s embassy in Lebanon confirmed the repatriation of over 300 Nigerian women, many of whom had been trafficked and subjected to forced labor, emotional abuse, and wage denial. The women had been stranded for months during the COVID-19 lockdown, abandoned by agents who smuggled them into Lebanon on false promises.

In 2023, NAPTIP facilitated the return of over 500 Nigerian trafficking survivors from Niger, Libya, Mali, and other North African transit routes. Many of them had attempted to migrate irregularly through the desert only to be captured by traffickers who subjected them to forced labor, sexual violence, and held them for ransom.

Each of these stories from Ghana, Mali, Lebanon, Libya, and Ivory Coast points to one painful truth: this crisis is far from isolated. It is systemic. Year after year, it continues to ruin lives, destroy families, and expose Nigeria’s most vulnerable citizens to trauma that lingers long after rescue.
Return is Not Redemption

While the latest repatriation effort is a necessary first step, it does not mark the end of the journey. The Chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, pledged to repatriate underage girls trafficked to Ivory Coast and promised free medical care for the 115 returnees at Duchess International Hospital in Ikeja.

This gesture is commendable yet the pressing question remains: what happens next? A flight home is not a solution to the deep-seated conditions that led to the trafficking in the first place. For many survivors, the painful decision to leave Nigeria was driven by extreme poverty, unemployment, and a desperate search for opportunity.

Now they return to the very circumstances that made them vulnerable: limited job prospects, social exclusion, and insufficient state support. Without a structured and sustainable reintegration plan, these survivors remain at risk. Rescue flights without follow-up care only delay the cycle of exploitation.

The Urgent Role of Social Workers

To break this cycle, reintegration must be prioritized. The Nigerian government must place social workers at the heart of this process. These professionals are trained to assess individual needs, offer counseling, and connect survivors to services such as housing, healthcare, education, and vocational training.

Social workers also help returnees navigate government programs and provide advocacy that reduces vulnerability to re-trafficking. Their support ensures that repatriation is not just a return to a homeland but a step toward healing and independence.

These professionals should be actively involved from the moment of return. Collaboration between social workers, government ministries, NGOs, foreign embassies, and local communities is essential. A trauma-informed and survivor-centered approach must guide every step.

Nigerians must also look beyond individual cases and embrace community-level efforts. Survivors need safe housing, mental health care, and economic empowerment. Communities, in turn, must be educated on the dangers of irregular migration and the deceptive tactics of traffickers. Sensitization is key to prevention.

More Than Headlines

The deeper issues remain: poverty, gender inequality, youth unemployment, and inadequate social safety nets. Until Nigeria confronts these systemic problems, the headlines will keep repeating themselves. These 115 returnees are not the first, and they will not be the last.

Repatriation cannot be treated as closure. It is only the beginning. What follows will determine whether survivors can rebuild their lives with dignity or remain stuck in a cycle of desperation.

“Survivors of trafficking need more than sympathy. They need systems. If there are no systems to catch them when they fall, they are bound to fall again,” said Dr. Gifty Addico, a prominent African social worker and anti-trafficking advocate.

The plane has landed. The cameras have flashed. But the real work must now begin away from the spotlight, deep within the structures that either break lives or rebuild them.

• Oliver Eya and Boluwatife Ayo-Odewale are Social workers