A book on sex slavery titled: “We Are Priceless: Checkmating Children’s Sex Slavery”, written by a cerebral crime journalist is bid for a launch on the 31st August 2023.
The book will be unveiled at 11 am at the POWA Hall, Oduduwa, Off Sobo Arobiodu, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos.
The launching will be chaired by the Chairman, Police Service Commission (PSC), former Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dr. Solomon Arase.
The Book Reviewer and Special Guest is Mr. Femi Adesina, while the Special Guest of Honour is Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), Frank Mba.
The author, Juliana Francis, who was at different times the Crime Editor of the Nigerian Compass, the Newswatch newspaper, and the New Telegraph, said the book reminds us of how vulnerable children continue to be sacrificed on the altar of unbridled wealth accumulation via the selfish quest of adults who should protect them.
“For too long, parents have been fooled into giving their children to human traffickers and merchants of child labour.
She observed that “In Nigeria, children as young as eight years old, 10, and 13 are trafficked into sex slavery, child labour, and other crimes and many are killed in the process.
“We can fight human trafficking by first catching our young ones, educating them to know about the ill, and joining in stopping it.
“It is a campaign tool for all sectors, showing the realities of human trafficking and urging Nigerians to join the fight to checkmate the menace,” Francis said.
In a statement in Lagos on Monday, signed by the Chairman, Book Launch Committee, Abiodun Bello, explained that the public presentation of the book, “We Are Priceless,” is a definition of the Japa, a trending slang, which denotes the desperation of most Nigerians, both young and not too young, to flee the economic quagmire in the country while seeking for a better life in Europe and the West.
Unfortunately, according to him, “It did not just start. Sadly, it involves the trafficking of innocent children, particularly girls of school age into sex slavery.
“Fraudulent people have continued to take advantage of the seemingly endemic poverty in the land to deceive parents into handing over their children to be trafficked into sexual exploitation abroad on the pretext of jobs with mouth-watering salaries.
Keynote speakers during the unveiling will include Ms. Olufunke Fayemi of the Report Women Network and Chief Producer, Voice of Nigeria, and Mrs. Evelyn Usman, the Vice-President, Crime Reporters Association of Nigeria (CRAN).
While the Special Keynote Speaker is Dr. Godwin Morka, former Director, National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).
Others are the President of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPSS), Otunba Yomi Odubela, as the Guest Speaker, former Presidential aide,
Other Special Guests of Honour are the CEO, Raimi Salau Nigeria Limited, Alhaji Raimi Salau, the Director-General (DG), NAPTIP, Prof. Fatima Waziri-Azi, and the Chair/CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa.
It was gathered that “We Are Priceless” centres on the escape of five courageous children from sex slavery, which they were deceived into by the people who their parents and guardians trusted.
Juliana Francis, the author, studied Literature-In-English at the University of Ilorin. She started her journalism career in 2002 with The Sun newspaper.
As a journalist, Francis has a passion for unearthing crimes against humanity, especially the girl-child. She has won several awards and received multiple nominations across the globe.
She is the first female overall winner of the coveted Wole Soyinka Prize for Investigative Reporting in Nigeria.
As a media consultant and the Chief Executive Officer of Youthlens Initiative Development and the publisher of Youthlens.com, she is an alumnus of the ReportWomen Female Reporters Leadership Programme (FRLP), 2017 set, and also a trainer and mentor to budding journalists.
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