April 23, 2007—For 24-year-old Miss Franca Edith Asiboja, who lives on trafficking in women, it was the end of the road at the weekend as a Benin High Court passed a 15-year sentence on her.

She was found guilty of enslaving young girls she recruited for prostitution in far away Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso. The offence was committed in 2004 when she lived in the West African country.

Franca, as she is well known, was found guilty of procurement of persons for prostitution, organising foreign travels to promote prostitution and trafficking in slave trade, contrary to sections 15 (a), 16 and 23 of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Law Enforcement and Administration Act, 2003.

She got five years for each count, which will run concurrently. Franca originally faced a 17-count charge.

According to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and Other Related Matters (NAPTIP) that prosecuted Franca, her journey to jail began in 2004.

NAPTIP had told the court that sometime in 2004, Franca, who lived in Padua Ouagadougou, sent for the girls in Benin City, Edo State through a woman named Omonigho Onome. She promised her victims jobs in Burkina Faso.

But before their departure from Benin, the girls were taken to a shrine called "Ogoje" where an old woman administered an oath of secrecy and loyalty to Franca on them until they each paid 500,000CFA to the latter before they can regain their freedom.

Ramaiah Ikhanadare and Mrs. Victoria Oburoh, prosecuting, led evidence which revealed that Franca received and controlled the earnings of the girls through daily remittances.

They were on the job for five months before they ran into trouble with the Burkinabe security operatives and both Franca and the girls were arrested by the immigration, and handed over to the Nigerian authorities.

Franca had pleaded not guilty to the charges but the trial judge, Cromwell Idahosa, said the sentence should serve as deterrent and a clear message to others engaged in the nefarious business.