The Court of justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Monday indicted Niger and asked it to pay 10 million francs CFA for prejudices suffered by a young Nigerian girl called Hadiza Mani Koraou in a slavery case. The court ruled that the young girl was a victim of slavery and held the Niger government “responsible for the inaction of its administrative and judicial services”. According to the ruling, read by the president of the court, Mrs Aminata Sanogo, the 24-year-old Nigerian girl was sold at the age of 12 for 240,000 FCFA, by a Touareg slave trader. Although, the Nigerian girl pressed for damages to the tune of 50 million FCFA f rom the Niger government, the court awarded her 10 million FCFA. “The government of Niger is prepared to comply with the verdict of the court”, Niger’s minister of African integration and Nigeriens abroad, Saidou Hachimou, promised.
