Some northern Nigerian women illegally trafficked to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have cried out for help after their journey to seek greener pastures ended up in regrets.
The women, according to Vanguard, were forced by pressing circumstances to flee Nigeria in search for a better life. They would later realize their agents (the traffickers) deceived them.
“A few years ago, I gave birth to twins and I couldn’t afford to take care of them,” said a lady simply identified as Maryam. “I was hopeless and I suffered a lot after giving birth to them, so I started asking for help. I kept begging and begging until I got so tired of it.”
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Maryam who was trafficked from an Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in Maiduguri continued her ordeal: “A man then offered me a job and I immediately took it, not knowing exactly where it was. I was smuggled into Saudi Arabia and worked there for two years as a domestic helper. I had to pay back the smuggler for taking me there. I grew accustomed to the situation but I was upset when it ended.”
“Unfortunately, one day when I was coming back from work, I got caught and was deported back home. I want to go back because life there as an illegal immigrant was better than living as a refugee in Nigeria,” Maryam said.
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When things go hard often, trafficked women like Maryam were forced to resort to prostiutions as a means of survival in Dubai, the most populous city in UAE and the capital Dubai Emirate.
Most of the women blame their misfortune on the high unemployment rate in Nigeria. “We went to school in our country but because there was no job, we came here in search of livelihood,” one of the ladies told BBC Hausa. “We came to a place where if you have nothing to do, you have to mortgage your body to eat,” she added.
