PSC BOSS, SOLOMON ARASE TO CHAIR LAUNCH OF ‘WE ARE PRICELESS’ BOOK AUTHORED BY AWARD-WINNING JOURNALIST, JULIANA FRANCIS
By Oki Samson, Trek Africa Newspaper
All is set for the launch and public presentation of the book, We Are Priceless, written by the celebrated and cerebral journalist, Juliana Francis.
Japa, a trending slang, denotes the desperation of most Nigerians, both young and not too young, to flee the economic quagmire in the country to seek a better life in Europe and the West.
Unfortunately, Trek Africa Newspaper can inform that this trend did not just start. Many times, ‘japa’ involves trafficking of innocent children, particularly girls of school age into sex slavery. Fraudulent people have continued to take advantage of the seemingly endemic poverty in the land to deceive parents into handing over their children to be trafficked into sexual exploitation abroad on the pretext of jobs with mouth-watering salaries.
The book launch which will hold on 31st August 2023, at the POWA Hall, Oduduwa, off Sobo Arobiodu, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos will be chaired by the Chairman of Police Service Commission (PSC), Dr. Solomon Arase.
Others expected at the event include Ms. Olufunke Fayemi of the Report Women Network and Chief Producer, Voice of Nigeria; Mrs. Evelyn Usman, the Vice-President, Crime Reporters Association of Nigeria (CRAN) while the Special Keynote Speaker is the former Director of National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Dr. Godwin Morka.
Others are the President of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPSS), Otunba Yomi Odubela as the Guest Speaker; former Presidential aide, Mr. Femi Adesina as Special Guest/Book Reviewer while, the Special Guest of Honour is Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), Frank Mba; the CEO of Raimi Salau Nigeria Limited, Alhaji Raimi Salau; the Director-General (DG) of NAPTIP, Prof. Fatima Waziri-Azi, and the Chair/CEO of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa.
The book ‘We Are Priceless’ centres on the escape of five courageous children from sex slavery, which they were deceived into by the people who their parents and guardians trusted.
In a press statement received by Trek Africa Newspaper, the author, Juliana Francis said that the book reminds us of how vulnerable children continue to be sacrificed on the altar of unbridled wealth accumulation via the selfish quest of adults who should protect them. ‘For too long, parents have been fooled into giving their children to human traffickers and merchants of child labour. In Nigeria, children as young as eight years old, 10, and 13 are trafficked into sex slavery, child labour, and other crimes and many are killed in the process. We can fight human trafficking by first catching our young ones, educating them to know about the ill, and joining in stopping it.’
The book ‘is a campaign tool for all sectors, showing the realities of human trafficking and urging Nigerians to join the fight to checkmate the menace’, the author who studied Literature-In-English at the University of Ilorin shared.
Juliana Francis started her journalism career in 2002 with The Sun newspaper and was at different times the Crime Editor of the Nigerian Compass, the Newswatch newspaper and the New Telegraph.
As a journalist, Francis’s passion is for unearthing crimes against humanity, especially the girl-child. She has won several awards and received multiple nominations across the globe. She is the first female overall winner of the coveted Wole Soyinka Prize for Investigative Reporting in Nigeria.
Trek Africa Newspaper gathered that Juliana Francis is the CEO of Youthlens Initiative Development and the publisher of Youthlens.com. The media consultant is an alumnus of the ReportWomen Female Reporters Leadership Programme (FRLP), 2017 set and also a trainer and mentor to budding journalists.
