In 2018, The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), said federal government repatriated over 50 Nigerian girls trapped in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This happened when the Foreign Affairs Minister then, Geoffrey Onyeama set up a team for the investigation on Nigerian girls trafficked to Saudi Arabia, after a complaint was lodged by NAPTIP on the nation’s youth being innocently trafficked to Saudi.
According to the team who visited Saudi Arabia, they met with more than 50 girls who were interviewed and we were told that there were many more girls who were stranded in various parts of Saudi Arabia. One of the victims said there were a lot of Nigerian girls who were stranded in Saudi working under slave-like conditions in people’s home. Most of them are ráped while others are made to work 18 hours out of 24 hours. Many were made to sleep in very poor condition and not paid in accordance with what the fraudulent trafficking agencies promised them.
The worst part is that “there is a very big cartel that works with embassies, who secured visas for the victims because those who have genuine businesses don’t easily get visas but the trafficked,” she said.
A Nigerian girl narrated how she escaped death after the alleged killing of two other Nigerian housemaids in Saudi Arabia. There was a report of how two Nigerian girls were allegedly killed by their employers after being trafficked to work as housemaids in Saudi Arabia. It was gathered that the murder of those two young women occurred within a space of two weeks in their respective homes where they worked as servants by their Saudi bosses.
The third Nigerian girl revealed she traveled to Saudi Arabia to work as a maid while her family thought she was living and working in Europe. She also said she decided to flee to Oman, a country close to Saudi following reports of the killing of the two Nigerian maids by their bosses. The young lady in a chat with Satellite Times revealed that weeks after she arrived Oman, she discovered that her new boss, a woman had allegedly killed her last maid in cold blood. Following the shocking discovery, the lady attempted to flee but could not due to the contract she signed with a recruitment agency in Nigeria and counterpart recruitment agency in Oman which restricted her from even leaving the house.
The Nigerian lady who was frightened in her new ‘home’, decided to do something in order to escape, hence she decided to fake madness. She started faking madness by uttering gibberish words (including Yoruba incantation) while covering her face with white powder and displaying to the shock of everyone in the house even guests. Embarrassed by the strange manifestation, her new employer called the recruitment agency after two days and queried them for giving her a “mad” girl as a maid. The housemaid continued her “mad” display for three days without food or water, according to the report.
The madam was left with no choice than to buy a plane ticket for the lady and ordered her driver to take her to the airport to ensure she is deported from the country.
The case of a Nigerian who was exec*ted in Saudi Arabia
Another Nigerian, Saheed Sobade, was supposed to be exec*ted in Saudi Arabia in 2019 after reportedly being caught with 1,183 grams of cocaine powder in Jeddah, a Saudi Arabian port city on the Red Sea and gateway for pilgrimages to the Islamic holy cities Mecca and Medina. The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa made the revelation while speaking on Arise Television last year. Mrs. Dabiri-Erewa expressed disappointment as a Nigerian lady was exec*ted in the same country for a related offense. She said: ”We keep appealing to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to ensure the trial is fair.”
On April 1, 2019 Saudi authorities exec*ted Kudirat Afolabi, a Nigerian widow and mother of two for drug-related offenses, sparking outrage from the Ministry of Foreign affairs, which said the Saudi authorities did not inform the Nigerian mission in Saudi Arabia of the arrest and prosecution of the executed Nigerian. Noting that the Saudi government does not spare drug convicts, she warned Nigerians resident in the Asian country to be of good conduct. She also appealed to those back home not to tribalize crime”.
“Crime is crime. We should not debase the green passport. We should not allow a few bad eggs to spoil the bond. The Dubai thing was all over the place. We saw the faces released to the public; only the eyes were covered and also the names.
Another victim who was lured by a friend in Dubai
The victim who was veiled while narrating her ordeal in Saudi Arabia said she was lured by a friend living in Dubai who connected her with a woman in Bannex Plaza in Abuja. The girl who spoke in English fluently but didn’t reveal her identities, said she left for Saudi Arabia with other girls on December 30, 2017 before being rescued by NAPTIP through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “It all started through a friend who claimed she was living in Dubai; she introduced me to a woman agent in Abuja, I was living in Lagos and latter invited me to meet her in Abuja. When I came, I was taken for a medical check-up in Dr Wada’s Hospital.”
The agent promised that she would go to Saudi Arabia as a sales girl and that she would be earning equivalent of N150,000 there. Everything was processed through the agent and when they got to Saudi Arabia it was a different thing entirely, her passport was seized and she ended up working as a house help. She said when the condition was unbearable she called the woman and said she could no longer cope but the agent said she could not leave.
http://www.scooper.news
Why can’t our country be like those countries our people are trafficked to
When our country is getting worse everyday, if not we will not be running to some others country
This is sad… Thank God for her safety… Why do they treat us like animals… That’s so cruel
This is so sad…thank God shes still a live
I think This racism of a tin will not end….