NIS rescue 12-year-old Beninoise trafficked in Bayelsa

Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) in Bayelsa State says it has rescued a 12-year-old boy identified as Tobi Fred from Banigbe-Lokossa region of Cotonou, Benin Republic, where the boy was found wandering at a checkpoint during a patrol by NIS operatives at the Yenagoa Tollgate.

The NIS, in a statement on Monday via electronic mail and signed by the State Comptroller, Mr Sunday James, said a minor was found wandering around the checkpoint.

He said: “The boy was brought to the Command for proper profiling and possible reunion with his family; the underage name Tobi Fred is from Banigbe-Lokossa region of Cotonou in Benin Republic.

“Investigation revealed an issue of child abandonment. The underage does not understand English apart from his local Beninoise language.

“The minor was helped out by an interpreter in the person of the Assistant Chairman of the Beninoise community in Bayelsa, Mr Etienne Fred, not related to the victim.

“The underage was brought into Nigeria by one Philip, a Beninoise, who was said to be the uncle of the abandoned child. Philip, we understand, is no longer in the country at the time of arrest.”

The comptroller said the NIS, Bayelsa Command, had taken up the rehabilitation of the underage who needs medical care and nourishment before handing him over to the Beninoise Community for return to his parents at Banigbe-Lokossa, Cotonou.

He added: “The service, in preparation for the 2023 general elections, is mopping up irregular non-Nigerians on the streets of Yenagoa.

“After the major operation flush in September 2022, the service has decided not to relent until the state is rid of irregular immigrants.”