The Woman Fighting Human Traffickers From Lagos to Asti

After being trafficked from Nigeria to Italy under false promises of work, Princess Inyang Okokon survived exploitation, testified against her traffickers, and went on to establish an organization that rescues women trapped in the same system she once endured.

Written by Maurizio Bongioanni

May 24, 2026

Illustration by Charles Owen / THE REPUBLIC.

This story appears in our print issue,‘Nigeria in the World’. Buy here.

‘I arrived in Turin, Italy, in 1999. I was 24 years old.’ The day I met Princess Inyang Okokon, it was her birthday. At the headquarters of the Project for the Integration and Reception of Migrants (Progetto Integrazione Accoglienza Migranti, PIAM Onlus)—which she helped establish in Asti—Princess was calm and smiling, sitting in the shadow of two small sculptures depicting the Miracle of Lourdes. ‘It is nice here,’ she told me. Later she would mention that she is a deeply religious woman and has become a Pentecostal preacher. According to Princess, PIAM started in 2000 as a ‘support programme for victims of trafficking for prostitution.’ Inspired by personal experience, her story is the same as that of thousands of Nigerian girls who end up on the streets, deceived by traffickers:

They travel around villages in Africa looking for vulnerable girls. They fill their heads with promises; they talk about a beautiful life in Europe. And they convince them. The work is real—but it is never what the women expect when they leave home. They had promised me I would work as a cook, once I arrived in Italy.

‘A WELL-DRESSED WOMAN TOLD ME I COULD BECOME RICH IN EUROPE’

It was not an unlikely promise. Back in Nigeria, Princess owned a small restaurant in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. Cooking was her trade. ‘One day a well-dressed woman told me I could become rich in Europe working as a chef,’ she revealed. The temptation was strong. Princess let herself be convinced, left the restaurant to a cousin and moved first to Benin City, in Edo State, and then to Lagos:

They paid for the hotel and told me I had to stay there for a few months—the time they needed to get me a fake Sierra Leone passport. There was a civil war there at the time. In London, I could apply for refugee status.

Six months later, Princess was put on a flight to England with a group of other girls. When she landed in London, the police took her to a small hotel while the authorities processed her asylum application. ‘I don’t know what came over me,’ she recalled. ‘The idea of waiting again, for who knows how long, with the risk of being sent back, frightened me. I saw that a group of girls was getting ready to escape, and I decided to go with them.’

Escape to where? ‘I did not know. I called the only contact I had, and some men came to pick us up. I was afraid they would be angry. Instead, they were laughing. They said we had made them spend less money,’ Princess explained. Only later did she understand why: they were happy because they had saved the money for the asylum process—probably also the bribes for the officials they had been dealing with.

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About the Author

Maurizio Bongioanni

is an Italian freelance journalist based in Alba, Cuneo, Italy. He writes on ethical finance, environmental sustainability and human rights for outlets including Valori.it, Altreconomia and Pagella Politica.

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