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• Returnees recount hellish experience abroad, get succour from NGOs
By Funke Busari
But for a temporary setback in her career, a 24-year-old lady (names withheld) might have been making waves with her professional soccer skills abroad. She could have become as famous as Asisat Oshoala, Michelle Alozie, Tony Payne and other Nigerian female sports dazzling the world in the Nigerian Female National Team.
Though she is not yet a star with great profile, she is now a proud fashion designer. Her story, as gathered by Saturday Sun, is one that depicts a new lease of life, away from her harrowing experience in Egypt.
Her return from a turbulent journey now seems to have given her a new lease of life. She now has a reason to apply new strategies and methods to her life. She has been able to think of new ideas for her career despite her failed bid to earn a better life out of the shore of this country through a chosen lifestyle she thought was a golden one.
Playing football was all that she thought could provide her the opportunity to become a star until a friend presented her with what looked like a ‘golden opportunity’ to travel abroad.
She claimed her story is a long one. But she was able to make the narration short.
Her words: “It’s a long story. I am a footballer actually. Some years back, I had an injury so I couldn’t meet up and that is the only thing that puts food on my table, though I went to school, because of one or two reasons, I couldn’t finish. So I got an opportunity to travel to Cairo, Egypt to do some job. But before I left here, I asked them whether the offer involved selling our bodies. They said no. Egypt is not that easy but I thank God for the journey mercies.”
She soon realised that the sojourn did not meet her expectation. And the golden opportunity turned out to be a ruse.
The returnee is a skilled hairdresser now, courtesy of an “Inspire, Empower and Reintegrate Women” project, she told Saturday Sun in an exclusive interview in Lagos.
She continued her story. “After I came back from Cairo, my friend introduced me to the project by Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC) with support from Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (GIZ).
“I was playing football with a team before I travelled from Ibadan through the help of a friend. My friend told me they would help me to go to Egypt and that when I reach there, I would return their money. And I agreed.
“My experience when I got there was not a sweet one. If I know of anybody that wants to go to an Arab country now, I will stop them because the way they treat people there is not okay. I just pray that God will heal Nigeria for us because nothing is outside. I returned to Nigeria with my savings because it got to a point that I was frustrated. There was no job, Even they don’t give jobs to Nigerians there because they do ask for people from Uganda, Philippines, and so on. For us to get a job there is very hard.”
She said she’s beaming with smiles for finding a safe haven in her home country, Nigeria, because she is now a fashion designer.
While noting that all she went through during her training were not without challenges, she explained that she had to cope with intensive training.
She however was not all about lamentations but eagerly gave this piece of advice to youths who might want to travel out of the country for greener pasture.
Said she: “I won’t lie to you. I came to learn fashion designing because my eyes are still up there. My advice to youths who want to travel out of the country is to go to Europe or Asia.”
A 21-year-old returnee from Lebanon also described the level of enslavement she experienced firsthand. She narrated that she had the worst experience of her life that even when she came back to Nigeria, she couldn’t tell her parents because she knew they would always feel bad. In her words, that was not what the family planned for.
She recalled that she travelled to Lebanon in 2019, noting that when she got to the airport, the woman she had been told she was going to work with in that country collected her passport and phone.
She narrated that when she protested the seizure of her phone, she was stunned with the reply that she had been paid for and would therefore have no access to any phone for two years.
The young lady said she protested to the woman. “I said to her that collecting my phone was wrong. But she insisted that I would not be using any phone for two years.”
She said when she became helpless of her situation, she concluded that she would have to notify her people at home. She thereafter tagged the development as the will of God.
She narrated that when they got to her mistress’ house, she was asked to pack her belongings into a toilet. She said she objected initially but because there was no one to help her out of her predicament she eventually succumbed.
“I worked for six months. There was no salary, no good food. I fed from the leftovers thrown in the trash bin. She would not put it on the table after eating, she would take it to the bin by herself, and I would open the bin and I would eat from the bin.”
Back in Nigeria, and with a breath of fresh air, the lady who described herself as a survivor following her ordeal in Lebanon, had this to say to anyone that might care to listen: “Now, I don’t even know how to put it but I am happy that I am independent. And coming to this training means a lot to me, I have courage, boldness and I can talk to anyone about this training. I’m proud to be a returnee survivor. I want to tell ladies that I went abroad for greener pastures to survive, but thank God I am here and my family are happy. Those seven months was like a hell. I don’t know if you remember the Bring Back Our Girls from Lebanon, I was the one that led the team. When I was coming back, I was happy to bring back 45 girls to Nigeria and I am happy for that.”
She advised those going to look for better life abroad whether in Europe or Asia to heed her advice.
“I will advise them to stay back in Nigeria, to work. They should work and earn money. Because going to that place is not the best option. I will keep saying it that Nigeria is the best option. If you have your work, you will be able to feed yourself,” she said.
