Nigerian Returnees Recount Heart-Rending Experiences In Saudi Arabia

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had earlier on Tuesday sent a WhatsApp notification to journalists covering the beat to converge at the Ministry for an 11:30 am trip to the airport for a media chat.

Alas! The journey to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport turned out to be a rendezvous at the FCT Permanent Hajj Camp behind the airport.

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It was an unexpected detour, one that smirks of outright desperate deceit by ministry officials who were eager to show off the government’s effort at resettling Nigerians repatriated from Saudi Arabia.

The place swarm with humans- young Nigerian ladies and their male counterparts, who told tales of woes that they suffered at the hands of Saudi Arabians.

Mariam Akintola said she left her catering job in Lagos State for Saudi Arabia hoping to earn a better life. But all that quickly turned into a nightmare as her over three years stay in the Middle East country was an experience she hopes not to relive.

She said, “You know here in Nigeria first of all you will suffer, and if you don’t have connection you cannot survive.”

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And, so began her desperation to seek a better life outside the shores of the country. Like most ladies in the camp, she recruited the services of a travel agent who speedily arranged her journey into the waiting hands of a Saudi family.

Her new employers needed a domestic staff and Mariam fitted into who they wanted as a domestic Staff.

No sooner had she settled in than her employers confiscated all her travel documents leaving her at their mercy.

But being a domestic staff was not the picture her Nigerian travel agent had painted to her.

“They tell you that you’re going to work as a nurse, a teacher or something good. But at the end of the day when you get there, they turn you into a housemaid,” an emotionally bruised Mariam lamented as she struggled to keep the tears from dropping.

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She added, “you can work in three houses a day. For 24 hours, no sitting down. If you want to eat, you’ll stand and eat. And if you tell them that Madam, I have a headache and I need to take a break, they’ll say here in Saudi Arabia, not to eat, not to call, and not to take a break. Only one thing they have is 24 hours work.”

According to her, the local, Nigeria based travel agents are mostly in the dark as to what type of job awaited their clients in Saudi Arabia.

And when eventually the clients, by whatever stroke of luck, places a call back home, lamenting the treatment they receive in Saudi Arabia, the often-helpless agents’ reply is that, “Shebi na money you dey find. So, endure it and make your money.”

She narrates how some Nigerians were assaulted by the entire family members of their employers.

The Lagos-born Saudi Arabian returnee said she had to flee for her life as there was no guarantee that if she continued staying in the country she will return to Nigeria alive.

In all these, she said that her complaints to the Nigerian Consulate in Saudi Arabia fell on deaf ears, as Consulate Officials treat Nigerians with ignominy.

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“I am sorry to say, our (Nigerian) Consulate Officials in Saudi Arabia are very useless. They didn’t take issues about our Nigerian girls very personal.

“See all these other countries- Ghana for example. One lady (a Ghanian) died there in a deportation camp and her family told them that they should bring her Corpse. The government stood by that family and they took the corpse back to the country (Ghana).

“But if our ladies (Nigerians) die there or something happened to them, they wouldn’t say anything because none of their families stay there.”

Mojisola, another returnee said she left Nigeria two years ago for Saudi Arabia in the hope of greener pastures. But met a different reality as her employer refused to pay her for services rendered.

“If you ask for your salary, they’ll call the police on you and have you jailed.”

Mojisola would reveal heart-rending tales of rape, physical assault and all forms of inhuman treatment Nigerians suffer at the hands of Saudi Arabians, including the Kingdom’s officials.

The returnees pleaded with the Nigerian government and other stakeholders to act quickly to rescue Ishola Ganiyat, a Nigerian illegally detained in the deportation camp over allegation of a missing 15,000 Riyald (N 1,100,000).

According to them, efforts to get the Nigerian Consulate to expedite her release and return home have been frustrated by the staff of the Consulate who at some time started rejecting phone calls made to plead on behalf of helpless Ishola Ganiyat.

Like the women, the men tell of horrible ordeals. They complained of ill-treatments ranging from insults to battery.

Muktar Aliero who claims to hail from Daura in Katsina State said he was a tea vendor, selling cooked idomie noodles before he left for Saudi Arabia.

“Living there is one of the most debasing experience any human can face. Those people are not humans. They are animals and they treat you with no form of respect whatsoever.

“I was selling dates there. They buy things from you and refuse to pay. And if by any chance you demand your money, they will gang up against you or send the police after you,” he lamented in the Hausa language.

There are also allegations that most returnees repatriated by the federal government are not Nigerian nationals.

Another returnee said the government abandons Nigerians for nationals of Chad and Niger.

They said officials of the ministry prefer to assist Nigerians and others from the north than anybody from other parts of the country.

As the returnees narrated their ordeals, the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) revealed that on Wednesday it received another batch of 418 Nigerians from Saudi Arabia bringing the total returnees to 1071 in three days. This flows from the 11,000 Nigerians willing to return home from Saudi Arabia.

The Chairman of NIDCOM, Abiki Dabiri who was represented at the Wednesday event held at the FCT Muslim Pilgrims ‘muster-point,’ by the Head, Media and Public Relations, Abdur-Rahman Balogun, promised that everything would be done to make them comfortable in Nigeria.

She appealed to those still wishing to leave the country due to one challenge or the other to have a rethink especially if they do not have any job.

Earlier, the Director, Consular and Legal Department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bolaji Akinremi while leading inter-governmental agencies to receive the returnees said 255 and 398 returnees arrived in Nigeria on Monday and Tuesday respectively.

Ambassador Akinremi said the reintegration exercise was made possible through the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, to create a smooth rehabilitation process for the returnees.

He commended all other agencies like NAPTIP, NIDCOM, NIMC, FCT Pilgrims Board and Public Health for their wonderful coordination alongside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to him, the rapid testing method for Covid-19 detection was carried out while the returnees were profiled into states and gender.

As against the previous arrangement where each of them will stay in the camp for seven to 14 days, he said the maximum number on camp is three days before they are released to go and meet their families.

He assured the returnees that the accommodation at the camp has the basic amenities which include a 24-hour medical service to look into the welfare of the returnees before they are joined with their families.

The Ambassador said a token amount of N20,000 was given to each of the returnees for their transportation while free meals and toiletries were supplied to all of them.

Speaking in the same vein, the DG NAPTIP, Mrs Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, disclosed collaboration by Saudi Arabia and Nigeria to enable the repatriation of Nigerians.

She said the agency is equally profiling all the returnees and counselling them as part of the rehabilitation process.

Recall that more than 1000 Nigerian returnees from Saudi Arabia were received in January 2021 by government officials.

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