The Gold Rush Nightmare: Nigerian Girls Forced Into Slavery in Ghana, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Côte d’Ivoire

By iNewsAfrica Special Investigations Unit | May 12, 2025

A wave of horror is sweeping across West Africa’s booming gold mining belts as thousands of Nigerian girls find themselves trapped in modern-day slavery, trafficked into mining camps in Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Côte d’Ivoire.

Promised safe jobs or routes to Europe by traffickers operating in Nigeria, these young women—some barely teenagers—are instead sold into a nightmare of forced labor, debt bondage, and sexual exploitation in lawless goldfields.

“They told me I was going to Europe. Now I am here, living like a prisoner,” one teenage survivor told iNewsAfrica after escaping from a remote mining site in northern Mali.

A Dark Industry Behind West Africa’s Gold Boom

Human trafficking syndicates, fueled by poverty and protected by corruption, have turned gold mining regions into danger zones for women and girls. In Burkina Faso alone, the illegal gold trade is worth over $400 million annually, much of it stained by human suffering.

Victims are forced to serve miners in brothels disguised as “lodges” or labor in deadly mining pits, with their freedom controlled by criminal gangs and corrupt enforcers.

Despite laws against human trafficking in these countries, weak enforcement, bribery, and official complicity allow the exploitation to thrive.

Global Markets, Hidden Victims

Much of the gold extracted from these regions enters international markets, but the human cost remains unseen. Activists warn that without urgent intervention, the abuse will continue unchecked.

“We are dealing with a silent humanitarian disaster. These girls need rescue, rehabilitation, and justice,” said Ms. Amina Lawal of the African Coalition Against Trafficking.

Call to Action

Human rights organizations are demanding immediate cross-border crackdowns, survivor support programs, and economic interventions to stop the supply chain of trafficked victims from Nigeria’s vulnerable communities.

iNewsAfrica urges ECOWAS, the African Union, and the Nigerian government to treat this as an emergency requiring coordinated regional action.