The Federal Government has warned hoteliers across the country not to accommodate teenagers and underage girls in their facilities or risk being sanctioned. The Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, gave the warning on Saturday at the ‘Unlock Training and Grants’ ceremony in Abuja.
The programme, which saw 200 young entrepreneurs receive N100m, was organised by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Technical, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Education, Abiola Arogundade.
In January 2023, some students of Federal Government College in Ijanikin, Lagos, were caught absconding from school to lodge female classmates in hotels for sexual exploits. The students, all boarders, were said to have on different occasions scaled the school’s fence with their female counterparts and stayed out of school for days. Findings revealed that the students involved were between the ages of 14 and 17.
Similarly, in April 2022, a video clip of a 15-year-old boy who was accosted while trying to lodge two girls and another guy in a hotel room went viral on social media. The teenage schoolgirls fled when the voice behind the camera attempted to probe them on their mission.
Kennedy-Ohanenye vowed that it would no longer be business as usual. To depict the seriousness of the Federal Government, the minister disclosed that hoteliers, especially in the Federal Capital Territory, have been directed to mount a signpost outside their hotels warning prospective clients against lodging underage girls in their premises.
She also extended the warning to proprietors of schools across the country, warning that they should ensure no student is allowed to be bullied by either teachers or students.
The minister announced that the FG has commenced a probe into the distasteful viral clip of 10 Nigerian teenagers who were rescued from neighbouring Ghana where they were trafficked for prostitution. Three of the victims, ages between 15 and 16, were from the same parents. They were reportedly beaten, molested and forced into prostitution without pay.
The Chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said the girls were rescued after a tip-off by NIDO, the umbrella body of Nigerians living in Ghana. Kennedy-Ohanenye promised that the government would take decisive action on the matter next Monday.
