A shocking new report about how Nigerian women are being trafficked and tricked into prostitution in Europe is out. ~ EIYELE EKITI BLOG

Nigerian women working as prostitutes in the North area of Turin

According to Dailymail, these Nigerian women Nigerian are being trafficked to Italy hoping for a better life but often end up working the streets as prostitutes.

Their plight has however been highlighted by Paris-based photographer Elena Perlino, originally from Italy, who began to notice the presence of young African women working on the streets during her commutes from Turin. Elena Perlino said: 'I decided to start from this surreal vision to tell a story. I have been working on the topic for several years, focusing mainly on the Italian connection.'

According to the new report, Eighty per cent of women trafficked to Italy come from Benin City, Edo State, in south Nigeria. It is also shocking to note that the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime declared Nigeria among the top eight countries with the highest human trafficking rates in the world.

The new report made it known that these unsuspecting young girls in a search for greener pasture get tricked by some big aunties who are in the business of human trafficking talk to them, talking them into traveling to foreign countries to do honest jobs like cleaners and so on but get disappointed immediately they get there. As they arrive there knowing that they have massive debts to pay off and are expected to pay back the traveling fees the 'aunt' (traffickers) spent on them.

Traffickers demand an average more than 50,000 euros (US $60,000) for travel expenses and accommodation, with the women having to work as prostitutes until their debts are paid off. 'They are forced into prostitution and are now increasingly reinventing themselves as madams or working for the traffickers, also trafficking men, children for adoptions and organs and drug dealing.

'These are the activities of the powerful Nigerian mafia, which is also involved in arms dealing. What has changed is that the madams are now less violent towards the girls, having understood that if they mistreat them the girls run away: the girls forced into the sex industry now get to keep a little of the money they earn and this makes their lives a little bit more tolerable.

'As they cannot find a real way out, they get used to life as prostitutes and prostitution becomes their only source of income'', Claudio Magnabosco, former official of the European Parliament explained.

Here are some photos explaining the lives of Nigerian women prostituting abroad: