Every year, tens of thousands of young women are trafficked from Nigeria to be forced into prostitution in the European sex industry, with the primary destination country being Italy. Benin City, the capital of Edo State, is an internationally recognized hub of sex trafficking in Nigeria. It is certainly Nigeria’s sex trafficking hub, as established […]
From Victims to Survivors to Business Owners: PJI Survivors Launch New Businesses
EDO STATE, NIGERIA. We are so proud to announce the launch of additional small businesses (in catering, clothing sales, bath and body products and fashion design) for some of our survivors in Benin City, Edo State, an internationally recognized sex trafficking hub. These young women were trafficked from Benin City to Russia, where they sustained […]
PJI Welcomes the M. Night Shyamalan Foundation to Nigeria!
EDO STATE, NIGERIA- August 9-10, 2017. PJI was honored to welcome the M. Night Shyamalan Foundation on its first ever visit to Nigeria! The visit brought the team to Lagos and then to Benin City, Edo State, where they were able to meet with a group of our survivors and hear their stories of survival […]
I Believe In Stretching Tight Shoes.
Growing up as a young child in Nigeria, my mother would often have us trace our growing feet on pieces of paper just before she was traveling to the United States or to England. Once she arrived, she would awkwardly take the drawings of our feet to a shoe store and use them to estimate […]
R. Evon Idahosa at CPA UK’s Modern Slavery Project (Africa Regional Workshop)
ENTEBBE, UGANDA- On July 4-6, 2017, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association UK, in collaboration with the UK government, held its Modern Slavery Project (Africa Regional Workshop) in Entebbe, Uganda. For three days, 40+ Parliamentarians from six African countries (Uganda, Nigeria, Mozambique, Malawi, Ghana and Kenya) who will influence legislation in their respective countries, met to address the scourge […]
The Grave Cost of Enduring Hope Demands That Nigeria #BringBack(ALL)OurGirls
It was the hottest part of a typical day in a small village just outside Abuja when her husband got the call they had been praying for. As I watched Rebecca uncontrollably drop to her knees in the middle of a dusty, dirt road, it took me a moment to comprehend what was happening. Overwhelmed with […]
Pathfinders and CSAC Provide Vocational Skills Training!
BENIN CITY, NIGERIA- April 12, 2017. Via our Hearts of Hope Project and in partnership with CWFI Skills Acquisition Centre, we are honoured to have trained 30 widows at the ICCF Missions Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp in Benin City. The women, who are courageous survivors of the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria’s North-East, learned soap […]
In Their Own Words…Survivors’ Testimonials About PJI
According to the Global Slavery Index (2016), Nigeria has the world’s 23rd highest number of slaves – 875,500 – and its National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) reports that Nigerian girls make up 60-80 percent of the girls trafficked into the European sex industry. Other estimates are as high as 90% (UNDOC, […]
Hope Endures: Why the October 13, 2016 Release of 21 Chibok Girls of Nigeria Matters.
On October 13, 2016, 913 days after their April 14, 2014 abduction by Boko Haram, 21 of the 276 school girls kidnapped from their school in Chibok, Nigeria were released to the Nigerian government by Boko Haram. The Nigerian government contends that the release followed “painstaking” brokered negotiations by the Swiss government on behalf of […]
Pathfinders Introduces Our First Graduating Class!
BENIN CITY, Nigeria. We were so incredibly proud to have graduated our first class of trafficking survivors from our Skills Acquisition Program on August 13, 2016! We are honored to be able to partner with survivors to change horrific yesterdays into incredible tomorrows. Also in August, Pathfinders’ R. Evon Idahosa, Esq. was opportuned to speak to tens of thousands […]