Nigerian Women In Iraq: Prof. Waziri-Azi Makes A Case, Caution Manipulative International Labour Recruiters

The Director-General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, (NAPTIP), Prof Fatima Waziri-Azi, has said that Nigerian women working in Iraq are being exploited in diverse ways. She said this in an official statement, while speaking on the plight of young women in Iraq.

Waziri-Azi said that most of the young Nigerian women were now requesting for assistance to return home, because a large number of them are working as domestic workers in Iraq, and are exploited on a daily basis.

The DG assured that NAPTIP was currently investigating several rogue labour recruiters, who had been reported to be big players in the massive recruitment of Nigerians to Iraq, for domestic servitude. She made a point of caution that awareness by the agency, and other partners on the well-known destination countries across the globe, had now made traffickers to shift attention to Iraq.

In her statement, she revealed that “We are inundated with pleas for rescue and repatriation from female victims trafficked to Iraq, especially to the cities of Baghdad and Basra, where they are distributed to homes by their recruiters to a hard life of domestic servitude”.

Available information shows that many of these victims have been admitted to hospitals many times due to long work hours under harsh conditions that they are forced to undergo. Most of them have complained of deteriorating health resulting from the weight of work. Many of them have no access to their phones because their phones are seized immediately they are paired with an employer.

The DG stated that the situation was worrisome, adding that the workload imposed on the vulnerable young women by their taskmasters, was overbearing. “They are never allowed out of the premises where they are serving, and even when communication is established with them for rescue, they cannot give details of their location”.

She called on Nigerians to be cautioned of this desperate quest to travel out of the country for greener pastures. The DG stated that many Nigerian women had fallen prey to traffickers and the lies of international labour recruiters, who promised them juicy jobs overseas. According to her, “If a sponsor facilitates your travel, you will be forced to do any job to pay off your sponsor before earning money for yourself”.

The DG added that NAPTIP would continue to work with relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies in Nigeria and partners, to ensure the safe return of the victims from Iraq.