ABUJA, Nigeria – Allen Onyema, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Air Peace, has announced that his airline will assist in the evacuation of Nigerian girls who were trafficked to Ivory Coast.
This follows a viral video shared by social media critic Martin Otse, known as VeryDarkMan, which exposed the plight of these underage girls.
In the video, the girls, some of whom claimed to be as young as 15, spoke about being trafficked from Nigeria to Ivory Coast via the Niger Republic.
One girl, who identified herself as being from Ibadan, recounted being drugged and then taken to work in Ivory Coast as a sex slave.
In response to the video and the heart-wrenching accounts, Onyema expressed deep concern and condemned the trafficking of the girls.
He described the practice as “inhumane, callous, and ungodly,” stressing the need for a collective effort to discourage human trafficking.
“We should discourage trafficking of any kind. It is inhumane and callous. It is absolutely ungodly and a good example of man’s inhumanity to man,” Onyema said in a statement on Saturday, April 12, 2025.
The Air Peace CEO pledged that his airline would bring the trafficked girls back to Nigeria free of charge.
Furthermore, Onyema announced that the girls would receive free medical examination and treatment at Duchess International Hospital in Ikeja upon their return.
He urged the Nigerian embassy in Ivory Coast to coordinate with Air Peace to facilitate the safe return of the girls, and emphasized the need for the federal government to support their education and reunite them with their families.
This commitment comes as part of ongoing efforts by Nigerian authorities to address human trafficking.
In February, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) successfully rescued 21 minors from suspected traffickers in Niger state.
Additionally, in 2024, the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) rescued 13 trafficked Nigerian girls from Ghana.
