In this four-part investigative feature, multiple-award winning journalist and Associate Editor of The Nation newspaper in Lagos, Nigeria, Olatunji Ololade, embarks on a risky journey that opens him up to sordid operations of the underworld, aided by those tasked with protecting Nigerian citizens. Olatunji relays the sheer horror and trauma visited upon these victims of modern-day slavery. For the first part of his investigation, published on February 22 , he interviewed victims of human trafficking.
Girls found themselves stranded in Oman and Lebanon, where they had been sold to servitude. The plight of the girls in Oman was particularly worrisome because there is no Nigerian embassy there. Ololade tried to get government and immigration officials to intervene, but they rebuffed his overtures claiming the girls were on their own until they got to the nearest country with an embassy.
Olatunji Ololade. Picture: Supplied. His investigation took him to the most dangerous neighborhoods of Abidjan where he found brothels and sex camps that harboured Nigerian girls, mostly underage. Part three continues in Abidjan, details the ritual oath ceremonies the girls experience which stop them from trying to escape, and the complicity of border officials in fueling this crisis.
It reveals how Nigeria suffers from significant corruption and governance problems. It ranked out of countries in the Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International. The final installment , published on May 23 , looks at the impact of the investigation. In spite of the blood oaths some were forced to take, which terrified them, the girls pulled off daring escapes as a result of the stories being published. The investigation took two months and was published in print and online in The Nation.
In the course of it, Ololade endured hostility and attacks at brothels in Abidjan. In one instance a prostitute called First Lady attacked him and smashed his glasses while he tried to talk to Princess, an underage captive. On two occasions he was forced to change hotels to escape surveillance by thugs on the payroll of Lady Jane and her colleagues. Dangerous as it was, this investigation achieved results. It also made the finalist shortlist for the Fetisov Journalism Awards in the Outstanding Investigative Reporting category.
