126 workers locked for months in rice factory rescued

By Kolade Adeyemi, Kano

The police in Kano have rescued over 126 labourers forced to spend three months in a factory called ‘popular farm rice’ in Challawa industrial area.

Four senior staff of the Indian-owned​ firm in Kano have been arrested over the incident.

The Nation gathered the Nigerian labourers were ‘forcefully abducted’ by the firm and forced to work under hard condition despite the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown order.

It was also learnt the company promised to add only N5000 to their meagre pay for working day and night during the lockdown.

​Spokesman of Kano Police Command, Abdullahi Haruna, confirmed the incident.

He said: “On the 21 June, 2020, at about 6pm.,​ a complaint was received from Global Community for Human Right Network, Kano, that some labourers were wrongly confined inside Popular Farms and Mills Limited located at No. 54 Challawa Industrial Estate Kano.

“On receipt, teams of Policemen were deployed and when search was conducted, 126 labourers trapped inside the Factory for three months were discovered. Investigation is in progress.”

The workers told The Nation the firm managers threatened to sack them should they go home to see their families.

Police operatives stormed the factory on Monday after obtaining a court injunction, arresting four managers and rescuing the detained workers.

According to the workers, they were denied access outside the premises of the factory due to the fear of contacting COVID-19.

One of the freed workers told journalists that he has been in the factory since March 23rd.

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Another worker, Haruna Salihu, said he had been in the factory since March 28 and was denied time to visit his family and parents.

“Our family members are seriously disturbed, as they don’t know the (condition we are in). My wife and my kids used to come to the factory’s gate and I couldn’t go and meet them.

“We were tricked to stay in the factory for five days, then (it was) extended to seven days, then two weeks and subsequently extended to one month. We are now detained for over three months.

“There are about 600 workers in the factory. We are sleeping in a very poor environment. I am appealing to authorities to allow me to go back to my family,” he stated.