Queen Josephine Diete-Spiff, the wife of the Chairman of the Bayelsa State Traditional Rulers Council, King Alfred Diette-Spiff, on Friday relieved her experience on how she was drafted to be trafficked to Europe for sex slavery and her escape.
Queen Josephine said that despite the pressure, threats and deceit adopted by human traffickers and their agents, she rejected their offer.
She said after rejecting their offer, she had to make do with menial jobs at dumpsites in Benin City, Edo State, to survive and escape traffickers’ tempting promises.
The monarch’s wife, who is also the Chairperson of the State Traditional Rulers Wives Association and the Niger Delta Royal Queen Forum, made the revelation during a call on her by members of the Young Mothers Support Foundation.
YMSF is an international non-governmental organisation campaigning against teenage pregnancy and child molestation.
Queen Josephine said that she turned down a proposal from even her close friends to travel to Italy for sex slavery.
The wife of the first Military Governor of old Rivers State said, “I had to carry blocks, cement and sand at a dumpsite to train myself in school.
“There is no justification for any girl child to go into drugs or travel to Europe for prostitution when they have the opportunity to be educated and achieve greatness through self-determination.
“I am very interested in this programme because it is a reflection of me. I grew up in Benin City where prostitution was very rampant in my days and I was almost drafted to be one of them; but I said ‘no.’
“As a woman, you can do anything that will get you to where you are outside prostitution, outside drugs or traveling abroad to go and get molested and treated as less human.
“I have a lot of friends then who went abroad (Italy). Today, they beg me for stipends.
“If people will learn how to read, you will be more advanced and you will be able to survive because life itself is full of troubles. So, there is no way you are going to escape it.
“That is why I am interested in the girl-child to let them know that I wasn’t waiting for the boy, I wasn’t waiting for government to give me money. I worked it out by myself.
“Today, I am proud to know that I am a woman who God used to be who I am today because I gave God the opportunity.
“As a young woman, even if you have made a mistake, don’t let your mistake stop you. Don’t let the circumstances you find yourself determine your future. Create one for yourself.”
Source: Punch
