A Federal High Court Judge in Enugu state, Justice R.O Oghoghorie has on Wednesday sentenced four women to six months imprisonment each for engaging minors to beg for alms for them.
The four women who identifies are Chinasa Ugwu, 28; Mary Effiong, 19; Grace Bright, 25 and Happiness Asuquo, 20 were given an option to pay a fine of N10, 000 each by Justice Oghoghories.
The women who pleaded guilty to the charges were charged by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) with trafficking and child abuse.
NAPTIP accused the women of employing the services of three minors to beg for alms begging and hired out and also hired out the babies for the same purpose.
The agency said the offence violates the provisions of Section 23(1) of the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Act 2015. The prosecution counsel, Mr Nnamdi Ezemagu, has however applied for the review of the facts of the case.
Speaking after the judgment, Mrs Comfort Agboko, Enugu Zonal Commander, NAPTIP, expressed satisfaction with the conviction.
Agboko said the matter was transferred to NAPTIP by the Enugu Command of Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) and they were in July 2019.
