The Queen of Brass Kingdom,
Josephine Diete-Spiff, on Friday, narrated her experience on how she escaped
being trafficked to Europe for sex slavery.
Queen Josephine, wife of
the Chairman of the Bayelsa State Traditional Rulers Council, King Alfred
Diette-Spiff, said she rejected all the antics of human traffickers including
their pressure, threats and deceits.
She said instead of
accepting their offer, she resorted to doing menial jobs at dump sites in Benin
City, Edo State, to survive.
The monarch’s wife, who is
also the Chairperson of the State Traditional Rulers Wives Association and the
Niger Delta Royal Queen Forum, spoke during a call on her by members of the
Young Mothers Support Foundation (YMSF).
YMSF is an international non-governmental
organization campaigning against teenage pregnancy and child molestation.
Josephine said she turned
down an offer 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 grow 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 to 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 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”.
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