Category: Saturday Interview

He had a charming and friendly mien devoid of any airs around him. As the Egyptian Ambassador to Nigeria, it was apparent that His Excellency, Assem Hanafy Elseify, feels very concerned about any hint of negativity that can reflect on the increasingly strong ties between the two countries. He expressed sadness and shock over the use of the term ‘slave market’, saying while the majority in any country are usually law-abiding, there is always the minority who tend to keep law enforcement agents and the law courts busy. He emphasised Egypt’s commitment to good relations with Nigeria, which he said has seen to an upward swing in commerce, tourism and medical visa applications as well as deepened friendship between the military and security agencies of the two African countries. He spoke with Assistant Editor, JIDE BABALOLA on his stay in Nigeria, his country’s measures against human trafficking and other important issues.

How fulfilling is it to be Egypt’s ambassador to Nigeria and what is the nature of your duties here?

IT is a pleasure for me to have someone from The Nation newspaper at our embassy here in Abuja. I have been an ambassador to the Federal Republic of Nigeria since December 2016, so I have already spent one and a half years in Nigeria. I am a career diplomat. My career has spanned about 29 years already. I have been to many African nations, but I have to admit that my experience in Abuja, Nigeria, has been very rewarding and interesting. It is far from boring because I have had so many things to do and so many new, interesting things to discover. The relations between Egypt and Nigeria are multi-dimensional. There is a very cordial relationship between the two countries. As you know, we have two of the biggest populations in Africa, and there are plenty of young people in both countries. We have been very well connected throughout history.

Today, Egypt has more direct flights to Nigeria than any other African country. Over the years, there have been so many Nigerians coming to Egypt for studies, medical care and tourism. There are plenty of things to do here and I am enjoying my work along with the able team that I have in this embassy. We have a commercial office in Lagos and a defence office that has been newly opened here in Nigeria, which is a reflection of the extensive military ties between both countries. We have good security contacts and we also have a cultural office in Kano. So it is a big diplomatic representation in Nigeria and I am aware that Nigeria equally has a substantial diplomatic presence in Cairo. This is something that delights me, and I will like to have these relations enhanced in so many respects during my tenure here in Abuja. We understand that in recent years, there has been an upsurge in the number of Nigerians visiting Egypt, mostly for very positive reasons.

To what extent would you say that Nigerian syndicates have been manipulating purposes of visits to Egypt so that some people can do other things in Egypt? I have to say that the majority of Nigerians applying to visit Egypt for medical care, studies, tourism or on transit are mostly very law-abiding. Majority of them are serious people. We conduct interviews with most of them and we feel convinced that they have every good reason to go there. So we can’t generalise unduly. The norm is that Nigerians who apply to visit Egypt are law-abiding and quite of good prospects.

However, sometimes, some others resort to unscrupulous ways, but they are a minority. Of course, there is always a tiny majority that is not so law-abiding in so many other countries. There is a minority that will use forged documents or forged identities for a pretext. You may find some using forged medical certificates or forged acceptance letters from a university that does not exist, sometimes without the real signature of the Vice Chancellor of the institution that is purportedly granting admission. In this embassy, we have had many episodes of these cases, but the perpetrators are a minority. We are eager to extend help and even encourage more Nigerians to visit, in view of our countries’ very cordial relations. As a matter of fact, in the past two years, we have witnessed an increase in the number of Nigerians going to Egypt. And there are many Nigerians undergoing training programmes in Egypt, which is a very good contribution towards the development of Nigeria. I have sat with many of them.

They are very promising, resourceful and full of potential. Some people may have fallen under some unscrupulous agents and other unscrupulous or criminal elements, but the majority is law-abiding, and this is something we should celebrate. Have you found cases of agents or visa applicants who deliberately misstate the purpose of their visits in addition to using fake documentation? Have you been handing over such persons for prosecution? In a number of cases, we have discovered that and we reported them to the police. Majority of those involved will not disclose the travel agents that they are dealing with. Here, we don’t outsource visas like other embassies. People come to apply for visas directly. We don’t have offices which claim to be consular offices or consular agents. So we have a system of direct applications; not through intermediaries. But there are some applicants who by their own volition resort to the socalled ‘professional services’ of some travel agents who can provide them with forged materials for the sole purpose of getting them there. And sometimes, the claims or some of the documents may not be noticed. Of course, we do exercise due diligence in many cases, but then, we deal with thousands of applicants.

Usually, we asked the purpose of their application. The majority have good, credible references, but some don’t. So, we tell them this is not an authentic paper, please go back and don’t apply until you have a genuine paper. The fact is that if an embassy resorts to calling in the police in every case, we will not finish. Maybe if this pattern increases and we identify people behind this, it may become necessary to bring such to the attention of the police for legal consideration or prosecution. This is some something that has to be done in due course so as to identify the real culprits behind such forgery. We will very much appreciate the collaboration of Nigerian authorities in this regard. Nigerian and Egyptian authorities may have to jointly investigate because sometimes, we have false invitation letters being from Cairo. Once we identify the syndicates on either side who perpetrate these illegalities and the individuals who undergo exploitation under them, we will be able to save people from becoming victims. It will facilitate our conduct of more thorough assessment of visa applications.

Human trafficking is a major international problem. Has there been any indication that Nigerian trafficking syndicates have been trafficking young, underage girls to Egypt? If yes, what measures are you taking against the trend? Good question. The embassy’s consular section’s responsibilities include issuing visas upon due diligence and due consideration. We can only draw conclusions from documents being presented. It is very difficult to determine the intents of every person. If any person here applies (for visa) and harbours any other motive, it will only be discovered later on. Our embassy here acts as a frontier for visits to Egypt. What happens to the individual when he gets to Cairo or Egypt or what the person choses to do could be much different from what they told us here at the Embassy. In any case, we just have to assume that they nurse only good intentions as stated in their applications. There are reports to the effect that girls under 18 years go over there and get exploited. Could it be that they falsify their age to qualify for visa? Some applicants have been found to claim ages that are different from their real age. Generally, across the world, an individual’s international passport is accepted as a legal document, and we rely on such very official document.

We do not encourage visas for underage girls or boys at all. The only instance where such very young people are allowed to travel is usually when they are accompanied by their parents or when they have been enrolled in schools in Egypt. Even then, their guardians must be known. That way, they have full authorization to undergo studies in Egypt and the process or considerations apply worldwide. What happens later on is something that we have to wait and see; it is not something that can be determined in the Egyptian Embassy.

We are only the first step on their way to Egypt. We just have to assume that the majority will comply with the stated purpose of their visit. It also happens in other countries that some of the less law-abiding elements end up engaging in petty stuffs just to keep life going while some of them end up working in homes. Of course, they had not stated that in their visa applications and, of course, if they had done so, no one would give them authorization to do those things they end up doing. What I am trying to say is that the decision for them to engage in activities alien to the purpose stated in their application is theirs or maybe they had fallen under the manipulation of human traffickers here and elsewhere. This is why we hereby appeal for all relevant information and names of perpetrators to be provided. Is your government aware of Nigerians who have fallen prey to human traffickers or such other exploiters? We have very strict laws and sanctions against human trafficking. Egypt adheres to many international conventions on human trafficking, and we have an agency to counter human trafficking.

We have actively worked on this in the African, Arab and international spheres. We have a successful track record on that. So, it is a fact that the government of Egypt does not condone it. Our government is steadfast in its rejection, condemnation and punishment of such traffickers. If any Nigerian who had fallen prey can file a report on such experience, we will very much appreciate that. Also, if you know of any journalist who has particulars or evidence of names, identities of people involved in that, we will be glad to have a report on such infamous activities.

We will appreciate the provision of such information so as to deter would-be traffickers or wouldbe criminals from perpetrating such illegal activities. What are the measures being taken by the Egyptian government to stop the activities of human traffickers operating between Nigeria and Egypt? Are there regular police raids on the hideouts of illegal immigrants in Egypt? Once we identify the criminals and they are caught red-handed, we follow the standard procedure like that of any other law enforcement agency around the world. Once we have enough intelligence about such activities, and they are caught in the act of doing so, they are brought to justice. We have had numerous cases where such criminals were tried and heavily sentenced. Including Nigerians? There were people of various origins, including Africans and even, European elements. There were many cases that the Egyptian law enforcement agencies took very seriously.

As for raids on the hideouts of illegal and undocumented elements, it is done everywhere. If you go to another country, overstay your visa or permit stay, it is illegal. That applies to Egypt and even to Nigeria, and it is perfectly within the authority of appropriate government agencies to let you know that having no passport or having an expired visa is not welcome. As I said in the beginning, such occurrences represent very minor instances, especially when you look at the extent of very good relations between both countries. The majority is law-abiding and we welcome that. As I stated earlier, there are increasing numbers of visas being issued here. You have to encourage us to maintain this policy and sustain the increasing surge in the issuance of Egyptian visa to Nigerians towards further fostering good relations in the interest of both countries.

•   How human traffickers and underage victims’ families conspire to sell them into slavery.

Rosaline Usifo, 23, still carries deep scars of multiple sexual abuses in her heart. The 23-year-old native of Edo State was deported last February by Egyptian authorities after spending almost five weeks in jail. She was handed over to the police, following allegations of theft and seduction levelled against her by Rama, her master’s wife.

Usifo said she was sexually abused multiple times by Chadoury,  Rama’s engineer husband, within a period of four months when the couple was not on talking terms.

She said Chadoury forcibly had unprotected sex with her several times. The first time he had sex with the victim, Chadoury threatened to kill her if she reported him to his wife.

Chadoury reportedly said: “Hey you slave! I am thirsty for sex. I need you to remove your clothes right now. If you argue with me, I will cut you into pieces. I will slit your throat open and kill you here. After that, I will spit on your corpse. You worthless piece of shit.”

Frightened, Usifo could not resist her abusive master, who was holding a long-blade knife.

“He penetrated me forcibly and had unprotected sex with me. After the sex, he threw 1,000 Egyptian pounds at me and told me not to tell his wife about it. The following day, he bought contraceptive drugs for me. At times, he would demand that I quickly give him a blow job. By the time the wife found out what was going on, I had lost count of the number of times he had sex with me within a period of four months,” said Usifo.

Usifo was hired by the Egyptian couple as a nanny and cook in August 2017, two months before they quarreled and became estranged from each other.

“I didn’t know what led to the issues, but I discovered that they stopped talking to each other and slept in separate rooms, which was not the situation when they hired me and I started living with them”.

Knowing the gravity of his offence, Chadoury begged his wife and told her that Usifo seduced him. Rama called in the police and accused Usifo of theft and seduction. The latter was moved to deportation camp in January; and she was deported from Egypt five weeks later.

Sold into slavery by boyfriend

Deborah Francis is another sad victim of human trafficking and abuse. Two years after she completed her secondary school education, she was trafficked to Egypt by a Cairo-based smuggler whom she identified as Aisha Salami.

Francis, an indigene of Urome in Edo State, met Salami in 2012, through her boyfriend, Efosa. The latter introduced her to the trafficker claiming they were high school classmates.

“Aunty Aisha called my boyfriend from her base in Egypt and said she wanted ladies that she would take to Egypt for work. She claimed to be a job agent helping people for overseas employment. Efosa asked if I was interested, I declined because I initially thought it was prostitution. Since I didn’t know the kind of work I was to do, I did not show interest,” said Francis, who was a restaurant waitress at the period, in Surulere, Lagos.

She was however, surprised when Salami called her phone and told her there were lucrative jobs she could do in Egypt.

“When she called me, Aunty Aisha confirmed that the jobs she was talking about didn’t have anything to do with prostitution. That was when I agreed to go to Egypt, even though she didn’t tell me the particular job she had for me,” said Francis.

At Salami’s instruction, Francis paid N60,000 to a third party to facilitate visa processing. She paid for the processing of her travel documents, including an international passport which carried wrong information.

She submitted the travel documents to the visa agent introduced to her by Salami. Weeks after, a single-entry tourist visa with three-month validity was issued by the Egyptian Consulate in Lagos but the victim could not afford to pay for the flight ticket to Egypt, which, at the time, cost N130,000.

Francis became desperate as the visa expiry date approached even as her boyfriend, Efosa, promised to source for money for flight ticket. Days later, Efosa showed up with the flight ticket as promised. Unknown to her, Salami bought the ticket online with a stolen credit card.

According to Francis, “When I arrived in Egypt, Aunty Aisha and her husband arranged for my pick up at the airport. After we got to their house in Sallab district, they asked for my international passport and seized it immediately. As I tried to understand what was going on, Aunty Aisha told me she would take me to where I would start work the following day.

“I asked the kind of job she was talking about; she told me it’s Chagala and said the job entailed housekeeping, washing and babysitting. She told me I would be earning close to $450 per month. When I converted the money into naira at the then exchange rate, which was N150 to $1, it was N67,500 monthly. This was better than my salary as a waitress.”

It took Francis no time to discover she was wrong about the details of the menial job she was being fixed up to do and the earnings she expected from it.

“Aunty Aisha told me she was entitled to $400 out of my monthly earning as agent’s fee. She said I must pay back the flight ticket she bought for me to travel to Egypt within 18 months with interest. After paying the money, she said I would be allowed to go anywhere I wished to go.

“I told her I did not owe her any money for my flight ticket, because it was Efosa who bought the ticket. She said she was the one who bought the ticket and it was sent to me through my boyfriend. I was surprised because Efosa never told me anyone bought my flight ticket,” said Francis.

Reality kicked in and Francis realised that she had been trafficked and she was being exploited. She indicated her desire to withdraw from the arrangement, opting to return to Nigeria but Salami brought out an amulet and threatened to afflict her with psychosis, if she refused to play ball.

“That got me scared. I had no option than to succumb to Aunty Aisha’s threat, since I didn’t know anyone I could run to in Egypt,” said Francis.

Few days later Francis was taken to a home where she would work as a house cleaner and nanny for an Egyptian master, in Alexandria governorate, some 218 kilometres from Cairo. Since the place is about three hours from Cairo, Francis had no choice but to live with her master and work for 26 days in a month.

She said: “I only had four days to rest in a month. Since the place is far from Cairo, I did not usually go home. I worked for three months at a stretch, sometimes. I worked tirelessly without being paid. Aunty Aisha usually sent someone to my boss to collect my salary.

“Out of #450 Egyptian Pounds (EGP) I was being paid, Aunty Aisha would instruct the person to give me #50 Egyptian Pounds (EGP).”

Francis paid the bulk of her earnings to Salami monthly, until the ninth month when she revolted. She was accused of theft and deported afterwards.

Making a fortune from human miseries

Human trafficking is possibly one of the biggest illicit trades in the world, earning an estimate of $150 billion in profits yearly for traffickers, according to International Labour Organisation (ILO) statistics.

Of this figure, $8 billion is allegedly earned, annually, by private individuals who smuggle young people overseas for forced labour.

Every year, the ILO statistics says, some 3.8 million people are trafficked into forced labour and work as domestic workers. Women and girls are the major victims of this illicit business; only 29 per cent are men and boys.

In Egypt alone, the turnover of human trafficking is estimated to be over $5.3 million yearly, based on the estimated number of victims trafficked monthly by several rings of traffickers operating in the North African country.

Findings showed that there could be as many as 2,000 rings of human traffickers in Egypt alone. The proceeds from victims’ exploitation are shared by members of the cartel according to an agreed formula. Tiny fractions of the revenue earned are paid to the victims in cash.

Migrant maids as victims of ritual killing

Some Chagala victims disclosed that new recruits regularly become victims of ritual killing perpetrated by Egyptians. Experienced girls, they said, usually avoid travelling with Egyptians as domestic workers during the summer.

Stella Edeigba, who was trafficked from Edo State in March 2016, said she almost became a victim of ritual killing.

She said: “I was employed as a nanny after I was brought to Cairo by my madam. Three months after, I got a residential cleaning job in Giza which required that I stayed till month end with the master before returning to my base.

“The day after I started the job, I discovered a decomposing human skeleton under the bed I slept in the room provided for me by my master. I rushed out of the room, screaming. I wanted to take my bag to leave the house when my master and her husband accosted me.

“They asked what went wrong. I didn’t say anything but they immediately sensed that I must have seen the skeleton. Then, they told me I must not reveal what I saw to anyone. They threatened to kill me if I revealed what I saw to anyone. I had to run away from their house.”

The mysterious disappearance of Busola Odusanya, 23, from her workplace still baffles Nigerians living in Egypt. The victim, said to be working with an Egyptian in El Maadi, had been declared missing since 2015, seven months after she was trafficked to Egypt for menial work.

Khadijat Suleiman also went missing in July 2017. The 21-year-old native of Osun State allegedly went on holiday with her master, identified as As-Sidiq, but she is yet to return, 10 months after.

The Egyptian allegedly accused Suleiman of $50,000 theft, but the allegation could not be substantiated when her traffickers confronted him. Nigerians subsequently sounded an alarm and declared the young lady missing in a broadcast message on their WhatsApp group.

The Egyptian police made no effort to search for the victim despite being informed of her mysterious disappearance from her master’s custody.

Toyyibat Amodu, also a victim of trafficking in Egypt, disclosed that the Nigerian Chagala community in the country records an average of 12 killings annually, with most being linked to ritual killing. In response, she said traffickers created a closed WhatsApp group to warn migrant maid servants. They constantly share information on the social media platform, on how to avoid being killed for ritual purposes.

In cases where compensations are paid to victims, Amodu said it hardly gets to the victims’ families. A greater part of the compensation, she said, is usually shared among the traffickers that brought the victims to Egypt.

Such was the case of a Nigerian, Rukayat Rufai, who was deliberately drowned in a swimming pool by an Egyptian boss in 2016. According to Amodu, $30,000 was paid to the deceased’s family as compensation. But, a larger chunk of the money was shared by late Rufai’s traffickers.

“Only $5,000 got to her parents in Ibadan,” revealed Amodu.

‘Trafficking Kenyans comes cheaper than bringing in Nigerians’

Posing as a trafficker, our reporter engaged in a 15-minute discussion with Patience Edet, 38, a human trafficker at her liquor store in Tabah, Egypt’s slummy border with neighbouring Israel.

.The reporter asked if she could help bring a 25-year-old lady from Nigeria for Chagala in Egypt, and she declined stating that she would be too difficult to manage.

“Nowadays, it is difficult to bring any Nigerian girl that is above 21years to work in Egypt. When you sign an agreement with them for 15 months, they would start giving you problems in five months. It is better when they are underage at the time you are bringing them to work in Egypt,” said Edet.

“These girls we bring from Nigeria are easy to control when they are underage. At 25, your sister is too old to be managed. But, if you have any Kenyan girl, I will bring her here. It is cheaper to bring girls from Kenya to Egypt. It costs $1,000. This means that the money I will spend to bring a girl from Nigeria ($2,000), will be used to bring two girls from Kenya.”

Porous airports, official collusion

To traffic a girl from West Africa to Egypt is capital intensive. Traffickers invest close to $2,000 on a girl to be taken from Nigeria, even though it costs only $75 (N27,000) to get Egypt’s single entry three-month visa.

Before the Egyptian embassy was moved to Abuja in 2015, Oladimeji, a former recruiter for traffickers, said it was cheaper and faster to complete a visa process for trafficked girls.

“We use to get the whole visa package and flight ticket for $800,” Oladimeji said, claiming the bulk of the money usually went to visa agents.

When the Egyptian embassy moved its visa application office to Abuja, the cost of delivering the trafficked girls in Egypt went up to about $2,000 because of the ‘exorbitant’ visa processing fee charged by independent visa agents and expensive flight ticket.

A substantial fraction of the money also went into bribing local airport officials to facilitate unhindered passage of the trafficked girls.

Findings showed that some officers of Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) are in constant collusion with traffickers to smuggle the victims out of the country.

Oladimeji said: “Bribing the immigration and FAAN officers was necessary to ensure they didn’t question the girls about their mission outside the country. We always had issue with these people at the airport. The bribe we gave them was to stop them from asking the girls questions.”

Lateefah Shittu, trafficked at 17 years in 2014, paid N50,000 in cash to airport officers before she could be allowed to move to the boarding gate.

“I had the money in a big leather purse with a note and was told to hand it over to an immigration officer, a woman, at the passport control section. When I did, the immigration officer signalled other officers and I was to go without asking any question,” said the 21-year-old deportee.

‘It pays being a slave in Egypt than returning home’

Three years after she fulfilled the contract signed with her traffickers, the 24-year-old Sonia Omoruyi would not give up Chagala. Since she was freed, she had been working on her own, earning a monthly income of $350 from menial jobs in Alexandria Governorate, some 300 kilometres from Cairo. Yearly, Sonia saves about $2,500 after paying her rent and utility bills. From her savings, she takes care of her parents and two siblings back home.

Sonia, a secondary school drop-out, said it would be suicidal to return home. To her, there is no point returning to poverty.

“There are no decent jobs in Egypt for foreigners, especially Black Africans. Even, our boys are into Yahoo Yahoo(Internet fraud). Prostitution is illegal in this place. So, what do you expect us to do? If you know my story, you would see that I had no choice than to do the work. I would rather stay here and work as a slave than return to poverty. Since I am now independent, I save my money and use it take care of my parents and siblings. I have no apology for this. After all, it is my life. It shouldn’t be anyone’s headache,” she said.

*The names of victims have been changed to protect their identities and shield them from being harmed.

* This investigation was conducted with funding support from the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR).

The Director-General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Dame Julie Okah-Donli, confirmed that the agency was aware of the situation in Egypt. She said NAPTIP is working with Egyptian officials and travel agencies to stop the smugglers.

Smugglers seem to have stepped up the tricks they employ in pushing their human trafficking business. Is NAPTIP aware that underage Nigerian girls are being sold and enslaved in Egypt?

Certainly, NAPTIP is aware of the tricks and tactics employed by smugglers who traffic Nigerian girls to Egypt. The agency has intensified its awareness programme and sensitisation in this direction. The programme is mainly targeted at the rural communities where it is observed that these victims are being recruited from. The awareness programme takes the form of sensitisation in schools, markets, motor parks, town hall meetings and advocacy visits to stakeholders in some of the identified vulnerable communities. The agency has also held series of dialogues with travel and tour operators in Nigeria believed to be facilitating the trafficking of these girls to Egypt and other countries for the purpose of sexual and labour exploitation. We have paid visits to the Egyptian ambassador on the need for joint collaboration to address the issue.

Investigations established that some airport officials aid and abet human traffickers to smuggle underage girls to Egypt for domestic work. Are there measures being taken by NAPTIP to expose and stop this official conspiracy?

NAPTIP officials are only permitted at the Lagos and Kano airports. So, it is very difficult for the agency to confirm any level of compromise on the part of other airport officials. However, as part of our inter–agency collaboration, NAPTIP has stepped up synergy with other sister law enforcement agencies currently operating at the airports so as to enhance their effectiveness.

Have there been efforts made by NAPTIP to reach out to repatriated victims in order to prevent more girls from falling for the traffickers’ tricks and also to curb the activities of the smugglers?

We have a comprehensive rehabilitation programme that ensures that victims of human trafficking are adequately rehabilitated. Aside the usual empowerment, the agency has a procedure of monitoring the victims with a view to ensuring that they are not re-trafficked. Those that have been trained and empowered are being closely monitored by our team of counsellors in collaboration with other stakeholders in line with the content of the National Referral Mechanisms (NRM), while the agency maintains constant communication and interaction with victims who are yet to be  fully empowered.

Will NAPTIP make efforts to engage Egyptian officials about these problems?

As part of the strategic moves to address the issue of trafficking of Nigerians to Egypt, I personally paid an advocacy visit to the Egyptian Embassy in Abuja and I was received by the Ambassador. The visit was part of the agency’s strategic interface with stakeholders in the fight against human trafficking. It was aimed at addressing the root causes of irregular migration and trafficking of persons across Nigeria and Egypt and proffer solution to stop the phenomenon. Given the intelligence at our disposal, I told the Egyptian officials that a greater percentage of victims of human trafficking to Egypt are used for labour exploitation in form of domestic servitude and stressed the need to straighten the channel of communication between Egypt and NAPTIP in order to prevent irregular migration and trafficking of Nigerians to their country. We emphasised the need for both parties to monitor the activities of some self-styled labour recruiters as well as tour operators whose activities are questionable in this regard.

Access to medical care is one the major problems confronting the more than 30,000 people evicted from Otodogbame, the waterfront community in Ikate area of Lagos Island. Following the victims’ financial handicap occasioned by their loss of means of livelihood after the ejection, their children, who are suffering from diarrhoea, cough and stomach ache are getting little or no attention. INNOCENT DURU, who visited some of the victims in Oke Ira and Isale Ijebu areas of Ajah, Lagos, reports that a worse calamity could befall the victims if their challenges are not addressed urgently.

Tope Meumi, one of the people ejected from Otodogbame community, was worried stiff as she struggled fruitlessly to get her sick son to stand on her laps. Each time she tried to lift him to his feet, the pale-looking boy slumped back into her laps, opening his mouth ajar and gazing into the skies.

“He was suffering from diarrhoea, but now he is getting even weaker. I am confused. I don’t have money for medication not to talk of taking him to the hospital. Please, God, save my son,” she said.

Sitting not too far from Tope and looking gloomy, another resident, Cecilia Moses, hissed repeatedly as she lamented the conditions of her children. According to her, three of her children were suffering from diarrhoea, stomach ache and cough, apart from battling with their high temperature.

“I have given them herbs but the problems persist,” she said. “I fear for their health and I am really sad because there is no money to treat them, and you know the implication”.

Ruing her means of livelihood, which she said had nosedived, Cecilia said: “I have always been a food vendor and was doing very well in Otodogbame. Business has collapsed since we came to this area. This place, as you can see, is a swamp. It is not comparable with Otodogbame. We are really starving and our children are very disposed to malnutrition. We rely heavily on garri for survival and only manage to get it.”

Another resident, Caleth Salako, said aside from diarrhoea and other child-related sicknesses, another health challenge the residents face was malaria. She said as deadly as the sickness is, all they could afford was paracetamol.

She said: “I know that paracetamol does not cure malaria, but that is the only medication we can manage to buy. Most times, we either make part payments or take the drug on credit from the Mallam that sells it. I only gave the Mallam N20 for the one I am using now. But when he saw my condition, he said I should not worry about the balance. That is the horrible condition we have found ourselves in since we were ejected from Otodogbame.”

Caleth also told our correspondent that about 30 women and children live in a small open space in the swampy area that also acts as breeding ground for mosquitoes. She said: “It is always very cold at night and mosquitoes bite from the very minute we put our heads down until we get up. We hardly sleep because everybody scratches his or her body all night because of mosquito bites.

“I personally have numerous health challenges but I have no resources to go for medical check-up. Hunger is another thing that is dealing with us. I have five children and once I get N50 assistance from people, I buy the garri that all of us would drink.”

Caleth also lamented that she had not slept in the same room with her husband for more than one year. “He has neither cuddled nor made love to me since we left Otodogbame. I quite understand because we have no personal accommodation. Our husbands sleep in one place while we sleep in another place with our children. If the weather gets too cold at night, I wrap myself up,” she said.

Also reliving her ordeal, her kinswoman, Sunday Juliet, said: “I was a trader back in Otodogbame. But all I do now is fry chinchin. I make about N500 pieces daily with which I feed my children and my husband.

“I have six children but only four are living with me. Two of my children take N50 for breakfast and N50 for lunch. To make the small soup that everybody would eat, I buy N100 worth of fish and N200 worth of pepper. Where the money is not sufficient to buy garri or fufu, I would seek for help from people.”

Like Caleth, Julieth bemoaned her inability to have some privacy with her husband, saying: “I don’t have a personal room, neither does my husband. We don’t feel happy about it but there is nothing we can do. We only sit together once in a while to chat during the day. That is the closest we have got as husband and wife since we were ejected.”

A distressed widow among the victims, Talabi Dieloku, was moody all through her chat with our correspondent.

She said: “I lost my husband during the crisis at Otodogbame. I have two children who are not going to school again because I don’t have the means of paying their fees. One is seriously sick as I am talking to you and it is giving me serious concern.”

‘Our women now feed us’

This is obviously not a good time for the male victims of  Otodogbame crisis. Most of them now have to depend on their wives for survival, having lost their means of livelihood.

Their leader, Sunday Senior, said: “I have three wives and they are the ones that have been feeding me since we left Otodogbame, because I have lost my job.

They engage in petty trading from where they get some money to provide the garri that we drink.

“I have 10 children from the three wives. The same thing applies to all my kinsmen because we are all out of job. I worked as a dredge master before and earned good salary. I was getting as a much as N200,000 monthly then. But now, I have nothing doing again.

“I have not been feeling fine since we were displaced. It is agonizing for me not to have the means of taking care of my family. We have lost many children since we came here. During the crisis in Otodogbame, we were attacked with a gun boat. A number of our children are still missing as I speak with you now.”

Speaking on their living conditions, Sunday said: “As you can see, this makeshift building is made with planks and bamboo sticks. More than 20 of us married men sleep here. We don’t have doors or windows. And if you see us in the rainy season, you will pity us because there is always no place to hide. We are always on our feet any time it rains.

“Aside from that, this place is a breeding ground for snakes, mosquitoes and rats. We killed one cobra last week and you can imagine what would have happened if the snake had come into where we lie down.”

It was also a tale of woes from Banjo Asinji who said: “It is my wife that has been feeding me for the past one year. I have been out of job for more than a year, finding it difficult to move around for security reasons.

“I am a carpenter and furniture maker. Before the crisis, I was making between N30,000 and N40,000 weekly. All that has stopped since we were ejected. I have five children and can’t provide for them. It is my wife that has been catering for the whole family. If she doesn’t have money, we would all starve for as long as she is able to get something.”

Garri to the rescue

Following the magnitude of starvation they have suffered for more than a year, a victim, Alaba Aze, told our correspondent that the people had more or less adopted garri as their ‘god’.

He said: “Garri is our god because that is what we rely on for survival. If not for garri, most of us would have died of hunger. We adore and guard it jealously because it has been our saviour for more than one year.

“If we have N20 now, we would buy a cup of garri and keep. When hunger comes, we would run to it for survival.

“My wife, who does petty business, supports the family. We are in a huge mess, I must confess to you. We are not a lazy people, but we have been physically, emotionally and psychologically traumatised by our past experience and present living condition. No parent would see his starving children out of school and would still be happy,” he said.

A caterpillar operator, Sunday Tunde, regretted that the crisis had separated him from his family, adding: “I am not comfortable living separately from my wife and children. I am always worried about their welfare, especially as I don’t have a means of earning a living anymore.

“The night is always terrible for us as mosquitoes always feast on us from dusk to dawn. Our bodies are full of cuts resulting from scratching our bodies that are riddled with scars from mosquito bites. Malaria has also become a common sickness, but unfortunately, we have no money to treat ourselves.”

Their kinsmen at Isale Baba Ijebu area were also full of sad tales when our correspondent visited.

A female victim, Celestine Agondo, said: “We have no home again but squatting with our people. We are living a borrowed life from the food we eat to the clothes we wear. I couldn’t move any part of my body after our ejection. It was people around that saved my life.”

John Ahunda, another resident, also told our correspondent that his wife had been taking care of the family since their ejection. “She goes to Ijora to buy fish and I assist her to smoke it. She feeds the family from the profit.  I am a fisherman but they have destroyed all my tools and I have no money to buy new ones.”

A public affairs analyst, Clement Francis, described the fate of the victims as incredible and shocking, saying: “It is a worrisome development because we have huge challenges of unemployment and homelessness in the country. Subjecting these people to this kind of challenge would only worsen the problem.

“The unemployment rate in the country rose from 14.2 per cent to 18.8 per cent in 2017. The country presently also has 17 million housing deficit officially. These have ripple effects of increasing crime rate and anti-social behaviour in the society. You can’t also rule out suicide tendencies among the people, because no man can ever be happy in that kind of condition. Something drastic must be done to alleviate the sufferings of the victims.”

PICTURES BY INNOCENT DURU

‘A woman should be glamorous but dressing shouldn’t be offensive’

Princess Folashade Olabanji-Oba is an interviewer’s delight. Pleasant and witty, she sits at the council office in Ikorodu Local Government Area of Lagos as the executive vice-chairman of the council. It’s the pre-election year, and she’s goes in an out of meetings and political events; no hour is too late during the day, and no hour is too early. A daughter of a textile trader in Lagos Island, the All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain said she grew up in business and politics. She left for UK after her secondary school, moved to America at some point, only to return to Nigeria to marry a childhood friend, who she initially objected to, because he was too close to her. In this interview with PAUL UKPABIO, Princess Olabanji-Oba shares with us her lifestyle and the values she has upheld through the years.

In what ways would you say your early life contributed to who you are today?

I was blessed with wonderful parents who had a heart for caring. My father was a disciplinarian who wanted to bring out the best in my siblings and I. Right from when I was young, being the first daughter, I was well cared for even though I wished I was given as much time to go out and play like my other friends were at that time. But then, I am grateful for all the things that my parents did teaching me to be accountable and also to be caring like they were. That was the orientation that I had.

Where did you grow up?

My early life was spent on Lagos Island where I was born. But my primary education was in Kwara State, while my secondary education was in Imo State and then over to UK and later on to USA before coming back to Nigeria, which is my home. Over there, I studied Business Administration, then moved into insurance and ended up in real estate. My mother always told me that I am blessed that I should always leave a place better than I met it because someone made it possible that I should get there.

When you came back to Nigeria, how easy was it for you to adjust?

It was a challenge but I took it as a mission to join and contribute rather than sit down and complain. I know that we are more than blessed in this country. Life is all about sacrifice. Most of us want to see a great Nigeria, not realising that we are already the great Nigeria. So we just have to look inwards and discover ourselves.

You said you grew up in Lagos Island, how was it like growing up there?

I grew up in Itafaji area. It was a beautiful place to live. I recall those days; I always have nostalgic feelings anytime I remember my childhood. We were not allowed to move around much, but we spent time with our neighbours. Our friends could come to our house. The community cared for each other. Most times when my mom was going to work or going on social outings, we were left in the care of our neighbours. My mother didn’t even need to worry whether we would be taken care of or not. Sometimes before she came back, we would have eaten at our neighbour’s home. And it was okay. We were contented. I had to go to the boarding school in the eastern part of Nigeria. I used to go with the train without any worries. I wish the children of today know that kind of life. It was so peaceful.

You mean you used to go to the east all by yourself?

Yes, and I remember when I came back after the first year, my mother got worried because I was so tiny. She got me transferred in the second year. When she told me about it, thinking that I would be happy, I simply told her not to change my school. She was shocked. She told my uncle who asked her to let me be, that if I was happy at the school in the east, I should be left to go there. I thank God for that experience. Even my husband tells me every now and then that I am an Ibo woman in a Yoruba body (laughs). A lot of my friends are Ibo people. I have always been one who sees beyond ethnicity. The unity schools really helped to build us up against ethnicity. That was why when I returned to Nigeria and saw the falling standard in the schools, the old students associations had to come up with plans to save these institutions that we so much benefited from.

Tell us about your parents

My mother was a trader in textiles. My father too was a trader. It was in the course of doing business together on the Island that they met each other and got married. My father used to regale us with stories of how my mom was his customer and he noticed that she was very enterprising and he then started to plan ways of making her his wife. I take after both of them. And it is not a coincidence that I am into real estate today because business has always been part of me.

You were abroad for a long while, did it occur to you at anytime to marry a white man?

(Laughs) I had friends who were white. While in the UK, I had foster parents who were white, though my parents were usually sending them money for my upkeep. I remember my foster mom telling me that one can only find love once in a lifetime. When she lost her husband, she never re-married. She influenced me a lot too. However, I don’t think that my biological mom would have liked me marrying a white man. I also remember her telling me that I should never forget the child of whom I am; that my name is precious.

How did you meet your husband?

He was my brother’s friend. My brother was a tough guy. He used to beat me as a child (laughs) but he could not do without me. He used to do things for me. When we grew into adulthood, I noticed that anytime that I asked my brother to run an errand for me, especially when I was home from abroad, he used to go with this particular friend of his. That was how I met my husband. We first became friends. Then I travelled out again and he also went to the UK. We met years later. And he told me that my shakara was too much. You know as a young girl, I stayed away from the boys, so I found out from him that many of those boys thought I was snobbish. Well, I didn’t know that was how it looked. I think he was on a mission to show me that he could overcome my shakara, only to find out in the middle of the mission, that he had fallen in love with me. And because we had been young, growing up friends, I used to tell him most things about myself, and he used to tell me things about himself. There was a time that he told me he was looking for a wife and he said he wished he could find someone like me. But at that time it didn’t cross my mind that it could possibly me because I didn’t have him in mind at all. I believed we were just friends.

So how did it happen?

One day, four of his friends came around with him; they said they wanted to take me out on a treat. I told them it wasn’t my birthday. But they insisted they just wanted to ‘spoil’ me a little. I agreed and went out with them to a posh place. Of course, after the merriment, I told them I was on my way home. They said no, not so soon, that they had a message for me. Startled, I asked them, message from who? They laughed, they repeated again that someone sent them to me. I knew that the message wouldn’t be an evil one anyway, so I told them to deliver their message so I could be on my way. They told me that the person said he wanted to marry me. Marry me ke? Those were the first words I could say, because that was the last thing on my mind. Angrily, I asked who the person was. They were suddenly afraid and told me not to shout. All of a sudden, it dawned on me that he particularly had been quiet all along, and when the others were sitting around me and doing the talking, he was a bit far off and quiet.

So, I looked at him, he was the closest friend to me among all of them; so I asked him, ‘you too, do you know the person they are talking about?’ He looked at me as if he was seeing me for the first time, and replied, ‘they are talking to you, just face them and answer them.’ His friends then mentioned his name, that he was the one that sent them. I turned to him and said, ‘this one? How can I marry him? I told them, this one, he is not a serious human being (laughs)!’ He then said to his friends, ‘what did I tell you, her shakara is too much.’ I sat down and I was thinking fast. ‘Could this guy be serious for once?’ I turned to him after some moment of silence, and asked him, ‘look if you are truly the one that sent these people, and you are sitting down here, can you open your mouth and talk?’ He looked at me and said, ‘yes, I am the one.’ I told him, well I have answered them that no marriage. There was a quiet moment again and suddenly, his friends turned to him and one of them said, ‘Omo, you see your life?’ He looked up, looked down, then turned to me, ‘what do you want me to do now?’

At that point, I told him that, ‘I have known you almost all my life and I know all the things that we used to gist about. Anyone that knows you the way that I know you and marries you needs a lot of prayers.’ He said, ‘yes, I know, shebi you are a prayer person, you will help me with prayers.’ So I told him that I will test him right away to know if he was serious. I was actually joking; I knew some things that he could never readily do. I told him if you are serious, prostrate for me now, in front of your friends. He didn’t think twice about it, he went flat on the floor! I was afraid. So I said, ‘wahala de!’ That was when I realised how serious the matter was. This guy truly wanted to marry me. Was I ready? I told him, I will think about it. From then, that was how we gradually changed the relationship. He started changing character and showing seriousness that grew by the day.

How has married life been?

He got serious and it became good. We lived in the UK where he worked as a journalist with a foreign media. I think I started young with child bearing; now I have adult children. I think it has been the grace of God because we have had our own fair share of problems too. But His grace has been sufficient for us. I have had to work while going to school, juggling between being a mother, wife and student all rolled into one. I couldn’t have done it without my mother. She was always there as a pillar.

Your mom used to sell fabrics, did that influence your sense of fashion and style?

Yes, my mom was it in terms of fashion and style. However, in her later years, she became a religious- hmmm, I won’t want to say extremist (laughs). She was a staunch Muslim faithful and a leader. But in her earlier years, she was a social person. She loved to dress and she always had parties here and there to attend. Her friends used to come to our house where they assembled to fine-tune their dresses before leaving for a party. I used to sit with them sometimes, listen to their conversations, though I was a shy person. They used to tease me a lot because my father sent me early to school in Kwara State where I developed an accent, so my mom’s friends used to call me around to dance for them. At such times, my mom would have given me a sign with her fingers over her lips, which meant I could dance for them but I should not talk. Much later, she made me to know that the women were not as much interested in the dance but wanted to hear me talk with my Kwara accent so they can laugh. So usually, they used the dance to lure me, after which they would start asking me questions so I could talk and they would laugh.

What kind of fashion appeals to you?

Fashion to me is about functionality. Here in Nigeria, I have to be aligned with my mixed cultural heritage. I mix Nigerian dress with English. Due to my work, going on inspections, pant suits favour me though sometimes I wear long skirt suits. But what you won’t catch me in is a mini skirt! Other than that, I like unique things. I have been able to adapt to my environment. I like feeling real. I won’t wear a suit to my village. When I’m going there, I wear my traditional stuffs, clothes they can identify with and which I will feel free in. The clothes appeal to them, they appeal because they show oneness and command integrity which informs them that they can relate with me. I don’t just have to be comfortable with what I wear, the people around me also have to be comfortable with what I am wearing. When I am going out, I think also about what will appeal to the people that I am going to meet or see.

When do you think a woman should be glamorous?

A woman could be glamorous whenever she finds the need to be. At occasions, it may not be excused. She should make an effort at least towards being glamorous. But dressing shouldn’t be offensive too.

At what stage did politics come into your life?

(Laughs) It has always been there. Everybody is in politics. Politics is in our homes. Though my mom was a business woman, she was into politics too. She knew all the news, the current affairs. If you wanted her to be miserable even when she was in her 80s, all you needed to do was to remove her radio from her room. She used to give financial support to politicians then. Politics to me is being relevant, being conscious of your environment and that I think should be the lot of everybody. You have to be relevant and be conscious of your environment, how it is being managed and the role you can play. I want to say a big thank you to our leaders, who have invested in me to get to this position. And a big thank you to the other party people too. It comes with a very big responsibility. The good thing I know is that, since I have been given this opportunity, I must use it well. That is why I have started a foundation for the girl child to mentor them to greatness and encourage them. Women should know that you cannot be a good leader if you haven’t been a good follower. You can’t get to your destination if you do not have a sense of where you are going. In Ikorodu now, it is a win-win situation for men and women. For instance, I am addicted to Ikorodu. I am proud to push the hash tag made in Ikorodu by my name.

 How have women fared in politics?

The way God created a woman, we are meant to take care of men, children and everybody. When you entrust anything in the hand of a woman, you can go to sleep. When you build or invest in a woman, you invest and build a nation. Any nation that doesn’t empower a woman loses out.