Faces In the bus: A true story of human trafficking between Ghana and Nigeria – Oluwaponmile Shittu
You must have read my first human trafficking article some weeks ago. If you haven’t, you can read here
I will be sharing another experience I had on my memorable trip to Ghana in this post. Prior to my Ghana road trip, I’d never imagined the extent of decay and rot in the society when it came to human trafficking. However, this trip was an eye opener.
Having had a rough night at the terminal, my partner and I on the trip, joined the first morning bus and we began our journey back to Nigeria. Initially, I was too tired, hungry, and exhausted to really study the other passengers in the bus as I always do. But I studied our driver well. Especially because I was sitted two rows behind him. The driver had another guy sitted in front along with him. An hefty looking guy who from his rapport and discussions with the driver appeared to be not just the driver’s co-worker but his acquaintance.
The driver had put a call through to his wife as the journey started and after pleasantries and asking after his children, she must have accused him of spending the night with a woman because he started trying to convince her that he truly spent the night alone at his friend’s place, he passed the phone to the hefty guy to help validate his words. This was enough confirmation that they were friends.
The duo chatted freely, as the journey continued. They laughed, joked and even selected songs for everyone to vibe to. They joked with us even and told us that we had two drivers on that journey.
We alighted at the first border —the Aflao border, for checks and pass, there and then, I was able to see and assess all the other passengers clearly.
There were 10 other passengers but three young girls who sat in the back caught my attention. First they had no I.D. The driver had to pay the immigration officers to keep quiet and let it slide. One of these girls was really young and couldn’t be more than 15. The other two looked like they werearound 18 and 20. One looked really haggard and her badly bleached skin made her look worse. The other girl looked better and neater but her waist was a bit wide and protruded. I could guess that she was pregnant. My guess was later proven right in the bus as the journey progressed.
As we journeyed through Togo and Cotonou, someone brought up the issue of child trafficking in Ghana and this discussion haunted my thoughts again till we got into Nigeria. One of the other male passengers was so vehement and pained about the topic that as he joined the driver and his hefty ally to talk about the depth of rot caused by trafficking, he confessed to having been a supplier of girls from his village in the past. “I’m ibo, but I’m very ashamed of girls from my place because 90% percent of the Nigerian prostitutes in Ghana are ibos. Many of these girls know that they’re going to do prostitution but they’re desperate to leave the village”. “I stop now, I no dey do that Kain thing again but I dey tell you say no be all of them no know. Abi which kain office work you wan go do wey you no go school or get any certificate abegi…”
This was his response to someone who suggested that the ladies probably didn’t know that they’re being trafficked for prostitution when they’re made to leave their homes. And sometimes they may be constantly threatened to remain as prostitutes. However, the driver, his hefty friend and Mr former trafficker didn’t agree to this mine of thought.
“Go to under bridge in mile 2 Lagos na, dem full there dey wait for new boat wey go carry them enter Ghana. Dem know say on top water no need for Id or any border check and they don’t have to pay heavy sums.” the hefty driver’s colleague said. I couldn’t argue or debunk any of the information because I was soaking it all in. Truthfully, I had read on the premium times page online that Lagos State had been identified as the biggest transit and destination for internal or external human trafficking. Even the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) attested to this in their research report. And many had lost their lives on this dangerous route.
“Infact, I can see some of them inside this bus we are in. They won’t say anything as we dey talk because them know say na their matter we dey discuss. Once they carry belle they send them back home,” hefty guy added.
He didn’t seem to care about his open declarations and revelation. He later whispered to the passengers directly behind him and it dawned on me that he was referring to those girls.
Truth to his words none of the girls said anything or made any contributions despite how everyone in the bus was deeply interested and affected by the discussion.
It really got to me that in this age and time, young girls are still being trafficked for prostitution even when they have options to learn a trade if they can’t go to school or do menial jobs to survive in their own country. I was more surprised and dissappointed to learn in the bus that some even after the government rescues them and take them back to Nigeria, they still find a way to come back to Ghana. Especially now that Ghana currency carries weight when converted to naira in Nigeria.
This was really disheartening, how attractive can Ghana cedis be?
The discussion continued for hours and the yahoo yahoo cabal was mentioned too. My mind flashed back to the boy at the terminal. I was a bit relieved and happy to hear that the Ghana government bursted one of the big ones in an hidden part of Accra, weeks before. And some of the boys were transported back to Nigeria. Some were found lifeless, some almost lifeless, some actively on the computer as if their lives depended on it.
Human trafficking has grown wild over the years. Between Nigeria and Ghana alone as at June, Ghana’s CID, with INTERPOL and Nigerian agencies, rescued 66 people enticed by fake job offers like football training and scams. Several suspects are now in custody. Flash back to september 2024, according to Sahara reporters, eight Nigerian girls aged 15–22 were rescued from trafficking rings in Ghana; a Nigerian trafficker received an eight-year prison sentence for sexual exploitation.
A similar situation occurred in January 2023 as well, eight sex-trafficked girls within the age of 15–22 years were rescued in Ghana and seven repatriated.
And on the 17th of April 17, 2025, over a week before my reply and trip, Ghana’s EOCO raided a hotspot in Accra (Kumsark Estate), recovering 231 Nigerian youths (227 males, 4 females; ages 15–18) forced into cyber-related crimes or sexual exploitation. NAPTIP coordinated their return, profiling, and care. This was the story that was being discussed in my bus.
As we got into Badagry , the entry point into Nigeria, phones began to ring. Network had returned and that’s when the one I perceived as the youngest girl in the bus, who had no I.D started to talk on phone with her mother. I knew it was her mother because she called her mummy mi (my mother).
She spoke in Yoruba and I followed the conversation. She lamented that she had gotten to Nigeria and wanted to come home but didn’t know where to stop and the bus driver had been asking her. After few seconds of silence, I could perceive that the person on the other end of the call didn’t want her home because her responses became angry, and desperate. “E se ma ni ki won wa mu mi ni Maza Maza, emi o tele won o. Emi o lo ibi Kankan o..mo fe ma bo nile. Eyin ni ke wa mu mi” (Why would you ask someone to come and pick me in Maza Maza? I’m it going with anyone anymore..I want to come home. You should come and take me home.)
As she ended the call, I glanced at her briefly behind me and I saw defeat in her eyes. The other girl who looked pregnant alighted immediately after Agbara bus stop. It seemed it wasn’t her first time and she had grown independent.
The badly bleached girl on the other hand seemed lost and oblivious. She didn’t look stable as well. This was because, despite several questioning by the driver concerning where she would alight, she kept responding in an uncertain tone with the same words “whereever they ask you to stop me. They told me that they have told you”. It was obvious that she didn’t know where she was going and who she was returning to. The driver and his colleague decided that they were going to drop her at their terminal until they could figure out who her guardian is or probably contact the person who brought her to the terminal in Ghana and paid for her journey. That is if the person could be traced.
As I alighted at my bus stop, I realized that we are still far from ending trafficking in the country. There are still hidden thriving cabals and dens, thousands of ignorant and unsuspecting young girls and boys, thousands of young people who believe they can only thrive outside Nigeria, and thousands of heartless citizens who engage the services of trafficked people. It was heavy in my heart to share my experience, and all I had heard on this trip.
This journey back from Ghana was more than just a trip home. It was a stark reminder that human trafficking is not some distant crisis, but a living, breathing wound in our society. The faces I saw, the silences I heard, and the confessions I witnessed all point to a problem rooted in desperation, greed, and systemic failure. Until we confront it with unrelenting awareness, stronger enforcement, and compassion for the vulnerable, countless more young people will be lost in transit, their dreams traded at the borders.
We all must continue to speak up and join the campaign and awareness against trafficking.
