n response to the escalating juvenile prostitution in Rivers, a rights group issues an open letter to Governor Wike warning that the girls face torture if they do not fulfill their goal of sleeping with 15 men per day.

The Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has been addressed in an open letter by the Port Harcourt based Center for Basic Rights Protection and Accountability Campaign over the rising usage of child prostitutes and sex slaves in the state. A joint team from the Nigeria Navy Ship (NNS) Pathfinder, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), and the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) raided brothels in Port Harcourt two days prior and freed 50 young women who had been forced into prostitution by human traffickers. One of the juveniles who were saved claimed she was forced to sleep with more than ten guys in one day and give their madam all of her earnings. When writing a letter on October 31, 2022, signed by Afudoza Jennifer Stephens Esq, and Gladys Oyenmwen, the rights group said the victims are lured from remote villages under the guise of training them in school or employing them as house helps. The group further revealed that the girls are tortured if they fail to meet the target of sleeping with at least fifteen men a day with expected revenue of thirty thousand nairas. Read below:     OPEN LETTER TO GOVERNOR NYESOM WIKE ON GROWING UNDERAGE PROSTITUTION IN RIVERS STATE   We are a rights advocacy group with a head office in Port Harcourt, primarily devoted to protecting the rights of citizens irrespective of their status in society.     We request your approval and support to rid brothels in Rivers state of a growing number of minors, and underage girls who are lured into forced prostitution, shattering their lives.     We have been monitoring developments on underage prostitution in brothels in the state and sharing actionable intelligence with necessary security agencies in the last two years     We are worried that despite our efforts which have resulted in several arrests of suspects, there remains a steady rise in the recruitment of underage girls into prostitution in many brothels across the state. We want to believe this is due to poor or clock enforcement, particularly in the prosecution of suspects.   For a lasting solution, Your Excellency, we have no doubt that the story would be different if you intervene with your support and deployment of legal instruments through the Office of Attorney General of the State to ensure honest prosecution of brothel owners where it is discovered that girls below eighteen years, even adult females are being recruited and forced into prostitution.     Your Excellency Sir, on 29 October 2022, a joint team of the Nigeria Navy Ship (NNS) Pathfinder, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), and the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking In Persons (NAPTIP) rescued fifty (many underages) girls forced into prostitution by suspected human traffickers at three brothels at Azikiwe Street, Mile 2 Diobu, Port Harcourt.     In August 2022, detectives from Iwofe Police Division of the Rivers State Command rescued underage girls from a brothel at the same Azikiwe Street, Mile 2 Diobu Port Harcourt who were forced into prostitution  The common revelation by the majority of the underage girls is that they are lured from some villages outside Rivers State in the guise of coming to be employed as house helps, but they end up as commercial sex workers under duress to be sleeping with men who pay their mischievous coordinators.   His Excellency, most disturbing is the revelation made by some of the rescued underage girls that their recruiter tortured and subject them to all manner of inhumane treatment if they fail to meet up the target of sleeping with at least fifteen men a day with expected revenue of thirty thousand nairas.     Your Excellency, we are aware of the vigor you brought into the fight against illegal oil bunkering in the state and the recent pronouncement to sanction hotel owners where suspected cultists hold political meetings.     Sir, we request that the same vigor be exercised by your office to ensure the sealing or acquisition of brothels buildings and prosecution of owners of such brothels found using underage girls as sex slaves. Such genuine intervention will go a long way in discouraging other intending perpetrators.  It is our firm belief that aside arrest and possible prosecution of the racketeering commercial sex workers leaders often referred to as Madams who act as guardians to the underage girls in this act of forced prostitution, the brothel owners from our investigations move with escorts should be prosecuted too using necessary legal instruments because they are a big part of the problem he     Sir, assist us and give your nod to helping reduce to the barest minimum, this social menace that shatters the lives of young girls and endangers society. The girls are tortured if they fail to meet the target of sleeping with 15 men a day. Rights group writes open letter to Gov. Wike over growing underage prostitution in Rivers