FG Bans Underaged Girls From Lodging In Hotels | Details
The Federal Government has warned hotel owners across the country not to lodge teenagers and underage girls or they risk being sanctioned.
The Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, stated this on Saturday at the ‘Unlock Training and Grants’ ceremony in Abuja.
She stated that this was part of the precautionary measures to halt human trafficking.
The Minister of Women Affairs’ remarks was on the heels of a trending video of Nigerian girls who were trafficked to Ghana for prostitution. The teenage girls were aged between 15-16 years.
Aside from a ban on lodging of underaged girls, Ohaneye also said her Ministry was determined to stop premature deaths of Nigerians as hospitals would no longer be allowed to reject emergency patients.
She stated:
”Women have been suffering in this country. Today, we have talked about allowing the poor to breathe in this country. Meanwhile I am sure you saw the video circulating about our girls taken to Ghana.
Did you see it? Very good. Action will start on Monday. You will hear about our action first thing on Monday morning. That is the first I am going to approach and see what we can do about it.
Nigeria must be better. From 20th (June), we have directed hotels to put a sign outside from the Ministry of Women.
No lodging of underage girls. (Otherwise) what happened in Niger State will be an understatement to what will happen in the FCT and I mean it. No more lodging of underage girls and no more bullying in schools.
And our hospitals will also put a sign of ‘No more rejection of emergency patients.’ These are some of the major issues we have in this country.”
In January 2023, some students of Federal Government College in Ijanikin, Lagos, were caught absconding from school to lodge female classmates in hotels for sexual romp.
The students, all boarders, were said to have on different occasions scaled the school’s fence with their female counterparts and stayed out of school for days.
Findings revealed that the students involved in the act were between the ages of 14 and 17.
Similarly, in April 2022, a video clip of a 15-year-old boy who was accosted while trying to lodge two girls and another guy in a hotel room went viral on social media.