Nigerians Top List of Human Trafficking Victims in Ghana, US Report Finds
Nigerian nationals accounted for the largest number of identified human trafficking victims in Ghana, according to the United States Department of State's 2026 Trafficking in Persons Report.
The report identified 896 Nigerians among 2,331 trafficking victims recorded by Ghanaian authorities in 2025, exceeding the 862 Ghanaian nationals identified during the same period.
Other foreign nationals identified as victims came from countries including Benin, Niger, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Togo.
Nigerian women and girls were reportedly recruited to Ghana with promises of employment but were subsequently forced into commercial sex work. Some victims were made to repay inflated transportation and accommodation costs, leaving them trapped in exploitative conditions.
The report also highlighted the exploitation of children as domestic workers. In some cases, children sent to relatives to perform household duties were subjected to exploitative arrangements under the guise of receiving education or vocational training.
Beyond human trafficking, the report warned that young people, migrants and economically vulnerable individuals were also targeted through fraudulent migration offers and recruitment schemes linked to cybercrime exploitation.
Despite the challenges, Ghana recorded progress in its response to human trafficking, leading the United States to upgrade the country from Tier 2 to Tier 1 in its 2026 assessment.
According to the report, Ghanaian authorities investigated 222 trafficking cases in 2025, including 83 involving sex trafficking, 132 involving forced labour and seven involving unspecified forms of exploitation.
Authorities also prosecuted 212 suspected traffickers and secured 28 convictions during the year. Most convicted offenders received prison sentences of at least one year.
The figures represented a change from 2024, when Ghana investigated 273 cases, prosecuted 65 suspected traffickers and convicted 25 offenders.
The Tier 1 classification indicates that Ghana has met the minimum standards for eliminating human trafficking, with the US government citing improvements in the country's efforts to address the crime.
However, the high number of Nigerian victims identified in Ghana underscores the continued vulnerability of migrants to deceptive recruitment, forced labour and sexual exploitation.
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