A group called Coalition of Edo Youth Organisations has said over 300 Nigerian girls are languishing in prisons in Libya.
They made the statement in a communiqué issued in Benin, Edo State, on Wednesday, said the development negated the bilateral relationship the Nigerian government signed with Libya.
Most of the detained girls are predominantly from Edo State with some reports indicating that a few Igbos are among them. Some of the detainees said they left Nigeria in search of greener pastures with the preferred destination being Italy and Russia.
President, Initiative for Youth Awareness on Migration, Immigration, Development and Re-Integration, an organ of the coalition, Solomon Okoduwa, who claimed to have fled Libya during the 2011 uprising in that country, said no fewer than 300 Nigerians were languishing in various prisons in the North African country and commended the founder of All Nation for Christ Synagogue, Pastor Temitope Joshua, for assisting hundreds of returnees with monetary donations and for rehabilitation.
Calling on the Federal Government for a review of its foreign policy in favour of Nigerians in the Diaspora, he alleged that the Nigerian girls in Libyan prisons were asked to pay between $400 and $600 through agents working for “corrupt Libyan authorities,” before they could secure their release.
