Borno State Commissioner for Education, Science, Technology, and Innovation, Lawan Wakilbe has raised concerns about the rising issue of prostitution among former Boko Haram captives.
He made the remarks during a courtesy visit by Hamsatu Allamin, the CEO of the Allamin Foundation for Peace, on Friday in Maiduguri. Wakilbe highlighted that some of the freed victims were exposed to sexual exploitation due to their vulnerability during captivity by the terrorists.
The commissioner noted that prostitution is especially prevalent in the local government areas of Bama, Banki, and Gwoza. He shared a distressing encounter with an 11-year-old girl, surrounded by three other children, which he described as heartbreaking. He also mentioned that Cameroonian authorities had recently repatriated young girls, aged 13 to 15, who had multiple children.
Wakilbe emphasized the urgent need for reintegration and support for these vulnerable individuals, pointing out that the widespread sexual abuse could be attributed to poverty and the lack of viable survival alternatives.
The commissioner’s statement comes amid the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Borno, where over 276 girls were abducted from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State, on April 14, 2014. Since then, some of the girls have been freed.
The Boko Haram insurgency has claimed the lives of more than 50,000 people in Nigeria’s northeastern region and displaced over two million individuals since 2009.
