DAVIDO, winner of the 2017 MOBOs ‘Best African Act’, has reiterated on the need to address the plight of Aficans being enslaved in Libya.
Davido who beat other African greats like Wizkid, Mr Eazi, Tiwa Savage, Wande Coal, Maleek Berry and others t clinch the award stated this while receiving the award on Wednesday night at the First Direct Arena in Leeds, United Kingdom.
While giving his acceptance speech, Davido thanked God, his family and dedicated the award to his team and to his two daughters. But the thought of Africans being enslaved did not escape the singer whose songs, ‘IF,’ ‘Fall,’ and ‘FIA’ have trended the airwaves this year.
“First of all, I want to thank God, my family and everyone that supported me,” stated Davido as he stepped up to received his award.
“Before I congratulate myself, I want to talk about what is going in Africa. I know you guys have been hearing what’s going on in Libya.”
In the past week, the world has been drawn to the auctioning of human beings in Libya in a report broadcast by CNN.
“But it’s not only going on in Libya. It’s going on in the whole world. So, I feel like we all need to come togetehr and find a way to fix this problem. Another person I want tot hank is my publicist, Vanessa. She’s been so so good to me. My manager, Ese Asika. I also want tot thank my mentor, Efe Ogbeide, for all teh support. And this (raising the award plaque) for my two baby girls staying at home watching their daddy.
A London-based Nigerian couple were yesterday convicted by a Southwark Crown Court in London for trafficking a “slave nanny” into the UK from Nigeria.
Judge Martin Beddoe warned that Ayodeji Adewakun, a 44-year-old medical doctor and wife, Abimbola Adewakun, a 48-year-old nurse, face “a significant sentence of immediate imprisonment”.
They were granted bail until June 16 when they will be sentenced.
Husband and wife had lured the woman to the UK from Nigeria with promises of a salary of £500 per month.
The couple confiscated her passport as soon as she arrived in February 2007 and subjected her to “constant demands and verbal abuse”.
She managed to escape two years later after finally receiving just £350 – the equivalent of a wage of £15 a month.
Jurors were unable to reach a verdict in relation to Dr Adewakun on a charge of trafficking a second alleged victim. Her husband was cleared of that charge.
The couple were said to have persuaded the woman to come and care for their two children in Erith, south-east London, years earlier in 2005.
The 37-year-old victim told Southwark Crown Court she was later forced to work all day cleaning the house, cook for the family and was even woken if the doctor got home late and wanted a snack.
She met the Adewakuns during their visits back to Nigeria where her father was employed in a similar role by Adewakun’s parents.
The jury heard she was promised £500 per month in a similar arrangement before “she too was subject to constant demands and verbal abuse” from Mrs Adewakun.
She described a typical working day involving cleaning the house, cooking for the family, preparing the children for school, running errands and sometimes working through to midnight before being allowed to finally go to bed.
After being threatened, she was “lucky not to be beaten like the last girl”, she finally demanded payment in February 2009 – after two years without receiving any money.
A bank account was then opened with a £50 deposit followed by further payments of £100, prompting her to flee the home.
When she finally managed to get her passport back, she sought help from a charity and an investigation was opened into the Adewakuns.
Dr Adewakun, based at the Abbey Wood surgery, told the court the woman was brought to the UK from Nigeria “for a better life”.
The GP insisted she paid each the same wages as she did to her previous European au-pair, who was hired from a website.
She claimed to have used contract template from Google and denied the suggestion the maid was used because “no European woman would take (her) physical and verbal abuse”.
The couple, both of Erith, denied two counts of trafficking a person into the UK for exploitation. Both were convicted of one count.
Investigating Officer Detective Sergeant Nick Goldwater said: “This couple deceived the victim by promising her a regular wage, which was far higher than her earnings in Nigeria. She hoped that she would be able to send money home and improve her family’s standard of living.
“In reality, she was made to work day and night and barely paid anything. She was subject to intimidating behaviour by Dr Adewakun, who exerted control over her by keeping her socially isolated and withholding her passport.”
President Muhammadu Buhari has described human trafficking as one of the worst form of slavery known to humanity.
He said it was unacceptable for traffickers to exploit the natural quest for employment and search for better economic opportunities by the youths in an increasingly complex and competitive world.
The President spoke at the public presentation of the book, “Eight Evils of Human Trafficking”, authored by Steve Osuji, member of the Editorial Board of The Nation and Boniface Opute.
Represented by the Minister for Women Affairs and Social Development Senator Aisha Alhassan, he said all hands must be on deck to arrest the plague for the country’s growth.
Buhari expressed concern about issues that violate the rights and dignities of the citizenry and hailed efforts made by organisations and well-meaning Nigerians to compliment government’s efforts in tackling such violations.
He said: “Human trafficking is one of the worst forms of slavery experienced in the 21st century and all hands must be on deck to unveil and totally arrest this plague for growth and development.
“It is totally unacceptable for traffickers to exploit the natural quest for employment search for better economic opportunities by the youth, especially young girls, in an increasingly complex and competitive world.
“Riding on the ignorance, insecurity, poor livelihood options, spirit of adventure, nativity, lack of education and skills of victims, traffickers lure unsuspecting citizens into slave-like existence, shattering their dream of a better life. Such criminal activities must be exposed and dealt with so that the rights and dignity of our people can be better protected.
“I believe that the ‘Eight Evils of Human Trafficking’ will help to throw additional light on the style and techniques used by traffickers. This will help to create greater awareness among the populace and I believe that the Guild of Editors will help to circulate the ills and dangers of trafficking.
“On our part, government has taken several steps to deal with the challenges of this modern form of slavery, especially as thousands of Nigerians, mostly women and girls are trafficked annually.”
The president added that the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons was established to address the problem.
Presenting the book, Rivers State Governor Nyeson Wike described human trafficking as one of the greatest social vices impacting negatively on the lives of citizens in Nigeria.
He hailed the Nigeria Guild of Editors for taking the bold initiative to fight against human trafficking.
Represented by his deputy, Dr. Ipalibo Banigo, Wike said human trafficking was a disgusting and despicable human act targeted at the poor and vulnerable in the society.
“For us in Rivers State, security and ending all forms of criminality is the bedrock of our administration. Within few months of being sworn in, we have given assent to the Anti-kidnapping Bill.
“The most significant aspect of this law is the introduction of stiffer penalty, including the forfeiture of assets or profits derived either directly or indirectly from kidnap operation,” he said.
Former Anambra State Governor and chairman of the occasion Peter Obi described human trafficking as the modern slavery, adding that many people might not know or understand the evil of human trafficking globally.
He said: “While slavery has been abolished, it now comes in form of human trafficking which is illegal trade in human beings, which we all know deprive them of their human right, using them for cheap labour and prostitution. It is actually believed to be the third biggest form of criminality in the world today. People are making billions from it.”
Nigeria Guild of Editor President Funke Egbemode said parents and the society were culpable in the evil of human trafficking.
She said the neglect of human, natural and traditional values have conspired to give the nation a bad name over trafficking.
Today, complaint is often made of what we call the failure of the Nigerian dream. We lament how monstrously, forces of society accomplish and fail to fulfill their work. We lament how the ruling class functions in profligacy and chaos. Nigeria laments the insensibility of the ruling class. But today, as usual, we fail to look inwards. Perhaps because we fear we would find in you and I, the summary of all other failures and disorganisation. A sort of heart, from which every kind of confusion and horror gravitates in our fatherland.
Complaint was often made that our problems persist because we refused to convene a Sovereign National Conference (SNC). There is the argument that our problems worsen because President Buhari refuses to implement the recommendations of his predecessor’s shady SNC. Perhaps there is depth and a semblance of truth in such frivolous mindset even as it becomes more glaring that a trillion SNCs will not save Nigeria.
This is because any consensus or ‘practicable solutions’ proffered at the conference would be the result of self-serving efforts of generations of shady characters comprising ex-convicts, hired assassins, treasury looters, armed robbers, advance fee fraudsters, decadent clerics and bloodthirsty political godfathers to mention a few. What manner of humaneness could result from a gathering of crows?
That we undermine ourselves and underestimate our self-worth are old stories told. Now that we have failed us, we pursue the comfort of blame and cheap consolations. Nigeria hasn’t failed us. You and I have failed us. We are the thorny thickets shielding our shoots from the sunny spokes of daylight.
There is a tragedy inherent in our customary lamentation every time our conscience is roused with a damning incident or report. Racist politicians and activists tirelessly suggest that we go our separate ways. They tout secession as the only solution to the country’s league of extraordinary problems.
Secession is the anthem that we should shun. It is the fruit of ‘reason’ that we need to be wary of and I will continue to say this hoping every prospective muscle – the youth – by which the separatists hope to achieve their dreams of dissolution, would listen and let the secessionists risk their hides and children to actualize their platitudes.
The biggest misconception about ‘secession,’ ‘insurgence,’ ‘self-determination ‘or whatever the separatists choose to call it, is that it could be peaceful and that the end result would be a conscientious and citizenry-centred dispensation.
It’s all dirty, greedy politics. The separatists want the youth to fly the flags of their dream nations. They want everybody to brandish a bumper sticker that bellows: “Death to the Federal Republic of Nigeria!” They call anyone that’s anti-war and anti-secession: “pacifist,” “traitor” or whatever colourful adjective suits their rage.
Then they promise the youth a prosperous future and better fate in their dream nation. Astonishingly, youth that ought to know better, buy into their farce and they begin to dream and talk of the great uprising that would set them free from the living hell Nigeria has become.
This disillusioned youth engages in bootless pursuits at the end of which he accomplishes too little or nothing. He probably accomplishes some individualized goal – satisfaction of a sentiment or material gain – which to him is everything; but for Nigeria, he accomplishes comparatively nothing.
Eventually, he morphs into the disgruntled man on the street stereotype; who suddenly realises in his twilight, that he had squandered God’s greatest gifts to him: intellect and talent. Then the smokescreen of youth and hastily prized platitudes begin to peter out and he realises that his miraculous talisman is a paltry plated coin – less suitable for social transaction than a contemptible kobo.
There is fundamental evil in our souls hence the vileness of our norms and culture. What evils should we set out to abolish in our modern society? To this, I bet very many well-meaning people would answer poverty, even though they ought to answer slavery.
Face to face every day with the shameful contrasts of riches and destitution, high dividends and low wages, and painfully conscious of the futility of trying to adjust the balance by means of charity, private or public, they would answer unhesitatingly that they stand for the abolition of poverty.
But poverty is merely a symptom, slavery is the disease. The extremes of riches and destitution follow inevitably upon the extremes of leadership and bondage. We are not enslaved because we are poor; we are poor because we are enslaved.
Consequently, every attempt to conceive imaginatively, a better ordering of Nigerian society than the destructive, pitiless chaos in which the nation has sunk is by no means modern; it is at least as old as Plato, whose “Republic” set the model for the Utopias of subsequent philosophers and self-styled revolutionaries.
The secessionists contemplate a new world in the light of an ideal. They claim to feel a great sorrow by the evils that characterise Nigeria, and they claim to be driven by an urgent desire to lead their ethnic groups or race to the realisation of the collective good. It is this desire which has been the primary force moving the pioneers of anarchism and horrid tyrannies – as it moved the creators of ideal commonwealths in the past.
In contemporary Nigeria, it is incense for suspicious revolutionaries claiming to fight for the interests of Nigeria’s ethnic divides. In this, there is nothing new. What is new and unpardonably offensive is the pretension of such characters to heartfelt sorrow and shared grief in the suffering of the masses.
This has enabled cynical and anarchist political movements to grow out of the frustrations and hopes of Nigeria’s youth and predominantly impressionable thinkers, whose thought processes and politics are anything but humane. This makes the agitation of the Nigerian separatists worrisome and markedly dangerous to the survival of the youth and the Nigerian nation.
The process of re-sensitising the youth away from the establishment of chaos and genocide advocated by the secessionists will be greatly accelerated by the abolition of the current political order. However, this can only be achieved by the nation’s youth – who are unfortunately enthralled by the platitudes and desperate politics of Nigeria’s ruling class.
It is no doubt the stock in trade of the latter to refer to violent uprisings in Egypt, Libya, Sudan, Iraq, Zanzibar, Tanganyika, India-Pakistan, Mali and parts of Asia among others, as worthy indicators of Nigeria’s need to follow suit. Whenever they dazzle with such informed commentary, tell them to lead the secession they advocate with their wives, children and closest relatives.
Many activists, youth leaders and self-acclaimed political heroes today have their wives and children tucked away in secure schools and neighbourhoods abroad even as they goad impoverished, clueless youth back home to untimely doom.
If it is true that there is appreciable number of Nigerian youth capable of powering revolts for ethnic self-determination, the end of which is dissolution of Nigeria, why can’t the same youth power the social regeneration and reclamation of the Nigerian State from the clutches of the predatory ruling class, ethnic bigots and dissolution activists?
The current political dispensation and acute racial bigotry must eventually yield to the influences of education and culture, if the youth could aspire to progressive ideals. But such transformation calls for remarkable wisdom and tolerance.
Lagos State Commissioner for Home Affairs Dr Abdulhakeem Abdullateef has described casualisation as modern slavery and despicable.
In a statement issued yesterday to mark May Day, he said casualisation exposes Nigerians to exploitation by employers.
Casual workers in most establishments, he noted, are denied some benefits, such as career progression and access to soft loans.
“It is worrisome to see companies and establishments owned by foreigners and Nigerians engaging people as casual workers. They are overworked yet underpaid and denied benefits that would enhance their safety at work place,” he said.
The commissioner called for the promotion of dignity in labour to achieve efficient performance and higher productivity among workers.
Nigerian workers Abdullateef said, were critical partners that deserve better treatment in changing the country’s image.
He said: “Workers should not be treated like animals, they are God’s creatures. Their children deserve better education. Employers alone cannot grow their businesses, they need workers input as well. So treat them well and respect their rights as citizens for optimal productivity.
“When workers are treated well, you are helping them to build responsible homes. Members of such homes will in their own way also contribute to the growth of the country rather than becoming a nuisance and burden to the larger society.
“As we mark Workers Day, I urge employers to prioritise safety of their workforce because life is sacred and should be treated as such. The inability of some states to pay workers salary is a pointer to the fact that Nigeria needs to take proactive measures at diversifying the economy.
“The agricultural sector is capable to address increasing cases of unemployment if promoted and made attractive to the youth. Acquisition of trades and vocational skills among youths should also be encouraged. However, prudence in government spending, blockage of leakages and promotion of 24 hours economy would also go a long way in addressing the challenges of unemployment and underemployment in Nigeria.
“It is also not out of place if employers introduce ‘hazard allowances’ or pay back scheme to appreciate doggedness and commitment of essential workers like security operatives, medical practitioners and journalists among others who are at their duty posts during festivals and public holidays when others are resting in their various homes.
“Safety principles and hazard preventive strategies must also not be toyed with to enhance greater productivity at workplaces.”
SIR: The world was recently taken aback by news of a London-based Nigerian doctor, Emmanuel Edet, and his wife who were found guilty of enslaving one Ofonime Sunday Inuk for 24 years. As pathetic as the case is, it is only one of many such cases, most of which never come to light. Education is supposed to liberate us and help us become more rational. However, as this revelation from the UK shows, education as we have it is apparently not enough.
Now, it is easy to identify physical slavery and kick against it, but how do we deal with mental slavery? Unlike physical slavery where there is an oppressed and an oppressor, mental slavery is more of a wilful – or perhaps unconscious – subservience to a perceived superior entity. It’s a subtle reinvention of imperialism. Nigeria gained independence 55 years ago. But are we truly a sovereign state or simply an independent colony?
Do we really have an identity independent of the West?
I shake my head each time I see helpless hustlers clad in suit and tie, sweating profusely in the hot tropical sun. Who says you can’t dress like a Wole Soyinka or an Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to attend a job interview? Who restricted native attires to Fridays? Think about it. We’re so “independent” that we even celebrate foreign holidays we know nothing about. As long as it is a US or UK thing we jump on the bandwagon.
Yes, some of these holidays are great; for example, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Thanksgiving. But if we would like to adopt them, why don’t we come up with our own instead of gate-crashing as it were? Having said that, the real issue is not about holidays. We seem to have a predilection for Western norms and culture over and above our time-tested values. That’s the real issue.
Yes, we may need to improve some aspects of our culture and traditions but we cannot afford to discard them altogether. Yes, we may need to adopt some practices from the West but we should adapt them to suit our peculiar situation. To take embrace Western culture in its entirety is to erode our values and deny our very essence. How well has that worked for us thus far? Isn’t it obvious that we need a change?
We knew nothing of the pressures young bankers are today put through chasing deposits, mostly proceeds of corruption, in billions, which their crafty directors end up fraudulently converting to their own
The title of this article does not belong to me. Rather, it belongs to a highly introspective senior citizen, a retired public servant who has seen more than eight decades on terra firma. He is, incidentally, a trained economist who, therefore, knows the critical role banks play in the economic development of nations. And as I recently wrote on these pages, unlike the young, who looks forward when he falls, the old does the reverse, that is, looks backwards, eager to know exactly where the fault lies. Chief Deji Fasuan, MON, JP and, by His grace, 84 next September, has been doing just that about what tragedy has befallen the banking industry in Nigeria, at least, in one particular respect.
More about that later.
My first ever job on graduating from Christ’s School, Ado-Ekiti, December ’63, was as a banker at the prestigious Bank of West Africa, now First Bank, starting out at its headquarters in Marina, from where I would later be transferred to its Ebute Meta branch, Apapa Road, opposite the Fire Brigade office. Those were the days of 500-page ledgers, and bi-monthly balancing – 15th and last day of every month – when you were sure to sleep in the office if you could not balance those assigned to you. For instance, some of us, Tayo Orukotan, our most proficient ‘balancer’, inclusive, said our Happy New Year hurrays, right there in the office, on Saturday, 31st December, 1966. There were, of course, much more interesting things about banking in the 60s than having to spend your New Year eve in the office. For instance, I was guaranteed, as gift, the topmost five of whichever denomination the ever fashionably turned out Papa J M Johnson, then Minister of Labour in the Tafawa Balewa federal government, was paid any time he came to the bank. Just like I knew I was loaded whenever the wealthy business magnate, Papa Aduroja, breezed in all the way from Ilesha. And, of course, those unforgettable bankers’ picnics that saw many of us, friends , among them Leke Owolabi and dear departed Arthur Medeiros, and bankers from Barclays Bank, African Continental Bank, Bank of West Africa, etc with Victor Abiodun of the Central Bank coordinating, heading to Pension Smith, Agege, at every festive period. We used to charter the popular LMTS bus. We knew nothing of the pressures young bankers are today put through chasing deposits, mostly proceeds of corruption, in billions, which their crafty directors end up fraudulently converting to their own. We are told the ladies among them are now, in fact, encouraged to do whatever, as long as deposits roll in. How many of these young Nigerians are now on medication for hypertension we would never know. Right from our desks, in our various banks, we ordered the best of Van Heusen shirts, all the way from England, which enabled the likes of Bayo Famotibe, Funmi Banjo, Femi Turton, Mike Okonkwo – yes the Bishop – and, of course, yours truly, turn out smelling like a thousand roses week in, week out. Indeed, after leaving our almost every month-end parties at Railway Recreation Club around 6 am on Sunday, the Bishop, rather than sleep, was sure to drive Papa and Mama to the early morning Mass. Such was the ease under which we lived as young bankers, envied by our contemporaries in the community. Today, smart Alecs have so changed it that the first thing even a chronic unemployed tells you is that he/she does not want a marketing job. While fraud was not completely unheard of – I won’t ever forget Orukotan, a cashier, bursting a local unemployed boy who was being used by a colleague of ours to withdraw from dormant savings accounts- they were a far cry from what now obtains as billions now get stolen annually. Indeed, NDIC has just reported an increase of 182.8 per cent in bank frauds for 2014. Deposits, in our days, were voluntarily brought in by individuals like the Oke Arin traders, cooperative societies, churches etc unlike now when banks daily deploy armadas of young persons in search of deposits.
And this, precisely, is what here engages the attention of a concerned Chief Fasuan who is calling on the Central Bank to urgently address the issue.
Happy reading.’
I am not exactly sure of the origin of commercial banking in Nigeria. All I grew to know in the late 40s and early 50s is that there were BBWA (Bank of British West Africa), Agbonmagbe Bank, African Continental Bank, New Nigeria Bank, National Bank of Nigeria Limited and Barclays Bank. These banks served the needs of market men and women around whom they were located. Very little was known of their staff outside the banking circle. They were either headed by expatriates or highly skilled Nigerian professionals. And all you hear were ‘manager’, ‘accountant’ and ‘clerk’; certainly none of today’s plethora of hierarchies and titles. The economy was compact and banking customers were few. Customers took their cash physically to their banks for deposit either at the current or savings level. The customer was given a document in which the transactions (deposit and withdrawal) and liquidity position were clearly stated. However, banking in Nigeria has changed dramatically within the last two decades. For example, it’s no longer necessary to carry bank documents (Savings Book for example) to and fro, each time you want to pay or withdraw although you still write cheques to collect money from your current account. The practice now is that bright, educated and spritely young men and women are hired by commercial banks, designated ‘marketing officers,’ and thrown out to the world to look for customers. Desperately, these young ones invade homes, offices, entertainment centres, etc to look for depositors and other customers. You will think they are newly recruited salesmen and women for goods and articles manufactured by local industries. They hardly have a seat at their branch office.
One can see the level of desperation and anxiety to keep their jobs in the faces of these young Nigerians. When you tell them you have no money to invest in their bank, they will try to persuade you to transfer your money from your present bank to theirs, even if for only one month. This is to show their bosses back in the office that they are working. Some, indeed, travel out with their bosses at weekends to retain their volatile jobs!
Without a doubt, the banking industry in Nigeria has been infiltrated with negative practices that were originally unknown to commercial banking – an otherwise elegant and elitist profession. The question now is what is the role of the Central Bank as a regulator of the banking industry in Nigeria? Also, are the labour unions within the banking industry unaware of the treatment meted to these young people, which border on slavery and exploitation?
Some may ask how banks would get customers if these young men and women are not sent the harm’s way. Simple. Advertisement in the media, all media, is the answer. Vigorous advertisement on radio, television, the social media and billboards can ensure the competiveness of banks and how attractive their products are will then be the deciding factor. It is absolute obscenity to send our girls to the streets in adolescent age to canvass for business for the big man up there.
The Central Bank of Nigeria should not be seen to be concerned only with the safety of the depositors’ funds or returns on investment. The regulatory body should also look into the ethics of the profession especially between the mighty managers and the vulnerable ‘marketing’ officers. Some level of security of job and the sanctity of the human dignity are necessary in banking operations as we see it in other climes. While each member of the industry should continue to have freedom to organise its operations within the extant regulations– the CBN must ensure a level of decency and comportment by the banks.
Also, Labour, as a defender of the dignity of labour, has a responsibility not to allow a sector of the workforce be treated as slaves and be assigned derogatory, even dangerous and hazardous roles in the work place.
The zeal to travel to Europe or America in search of greener pasture sometimes ends up as a misadventure for some Nigerian youths. Two young ladies were recently rescued by the Oyo State Police Command from slavery in Kuwait after they were deceived into the Asian country. They recounted their ordeal to BISI OLADELE.
Any young Nigerians are fed up with the wobbling Nigerian economy. They are in despair in a country that is unable to offer them employment or help them earn a decent living. Some are bitter because of the lack of job security while others simply lost hope after several failed attempts of securing their future. They look for any opportunity to move to foreign lands at which side the field looks greener.
Desperate to escape, many of them become gullible in the hands of dubious travel agents who exploit, and sometimes, abandon them thereafter to harsh conditions in foreign lands.
•Miss Daramola (right) and her friend Miss Ajayi
Two young ladies – Abiola Daramola and Taiwo Ajayi – just had a taste of the bitter experience.
Seeking a better life in the United States of America (USA), they ended up in Kuwait where they were lumped with fellow victims from Nigeria and other West African countries and forced to work as house maids.
Confined to solitude and rendered incommunicado, the ladies were forced to work as house maids with some others eking it out through prostitution.
“The agent in Kuwait is an Ethiopian. He told me plainly that he signed a two-year contract on me to work as a house maid in Kuwait.” Miss Daramola said, with unbelievable surprise on her face.
Daramola, 26, is a holder of Diploma in Industrial Relations from Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye. She couldn’t finish her B. Sc. programme in a private university because of financial challenges. She sought greener pastures in the USA but she landed in Kuwait after she was persuaded by the agent to take the option for the countless job opportunities awaiting her in the Asian country.
She said: “I went with my friend, Deola, to an agent, Mr Victor Adelaja, for traveling. When we got there, we said we wanted to go to the USA. The man is the agent in Nigeria. His office is at Bodija, Ibadan. He charged N250,000 for US. We agreed to pay and he promised to facilitate the visa. But as we got to the open office where his secretary sat, she asked us about our country of choice and we told her it was US. She asked if we had sponsors and I told her we didn’t have.
“Then she suggested Kuwait to us. She said there are jobs in Kuwait. Mr Adelaja had earlier told us but we rejected the idea. But the secretary persuaded us to do it because she had also applied. She said we could go there, work for a few months and return to Nigeria before going to the U.S. She affirmed that white collar jobs are plenty in Kuwait. She convinced us that the idea was good because it would enable us raise enough money before traveling to the U.S. They charged me N150,000. I paid N80,000 with a promise to pay the balance at a later date. Then, they took me to Kuwait.”
According to Daramola, she was unaware that she was entering the trap of an international trade syndicate with agents across borders. When she got to Kuwait, she recalled that she was well received by the agent in the country. She disclosed that the man came to welcone her at the airport from where he took her to her office. After the office, the agent told her that she was in the country to work as a house maid.
Her words: “But on getting to Kuwait, the agent there, who is an Ethiopian, received me at the airport. He then took me to his office where I dropped my luggage.
Then he sat me down and asked if I remember that I signed a two-year contract with him to work as house maid. I was dazed. I said I didn’t sign such contract. I said I only came to work for a few months and return to Nigeria. He said that was not possible because he signed the contract over me, stressing that he paid N350,000. I was helpless. I didn’t know what to do again.
I didn’t have a choice because even another Nigerian agent there told me to play along. He said I could just work for about four months and obtain work permit that would enable me do the kind of job I desired.”
But the job was hard. It wasn’t what she thought as she had to daily clean a two-story building housing 14 families. Worse still, feeding was once a day, and, it was crumbs she packed from the tables of occupants of the building.
“I started doing the job. But it was so stressful. I had to clean a two-story building accommodating 14 families. There is this family with nine children. Two grown-ups among the children are also married and live with the larger family in the apartment. They are so many. The work was so tedious. Moreso, there was no provision for food. I ate left-over from the families; and that was only once daily.
“So, I became so uncomfortable. I then told the Nigerian agent that I wanted to come back to Nigeria but he said I must pay back the amount they spent bringing me to Kuwait. I then learnt that the Ethiopian man actually paid N350,000 on me covering visa, air ticket and agent fees. It was like someone sold me to someone, unknown to me. Then, I started crying everyday.”’she recalled.
Daramola said she continued to cry for days, even in the midst of other victims. After a few days, however, she managed to contact the travel agent in Nigeria, who also insisted that she would have to pay the huge sum if she was desirous of returning home.
It was at that stage her relations contacted the Oyo State Police Command which waved in, leveraged on its wide expanded network and rescued Daramola and the second victim, Miss Ajayi, from slavery.
Daramola: “Somehow, I managed to call Mr Adelaja, informing him that I wanted to come back home. He asked me to pay the Ethiopian agent. Then I asked him if he ever told me that he was selling me to someone else. He insisted I must refund the N350,000.
We managed to get across to Nigerian police who rescued us. The police went to arrest him in his office.”
“When one of the other victims saw how I cried daily she advised me to go into prostitution to raise the huge amount the cartel requested but I declined.
“But none of them is doing prostitution because they used to lock us up in a place. No one could go out. They came to pick whoever they had a job for. They also returned us there after work. They didn’t allow us to communicate to the outside world. I hid the phone I used to call. Otherwise, they would have seized it from me.
There were lots of young women there, so many. They were uncountable. There were so may Ghanaians, Sierra Leoneans, Camerounians who were trapped there. It’s hard life. They are forced to work as house maids. But there is a particular one who is into prostitution.”
The Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Mr Muhammed Katsina, described the suspects as “a syndicate whose stock-in-trade is unlawful, criminal indulgence in human slave trade of international dimension.”
He added that the syndicate has web of agents in many parts of Nigeria and overseas, particularly in Kuwait, specializing in luring young ladies seeking greener pasture abroad into slavery under the pretext of assisting in providing job opportunities.
Recalling how the command succeeded in rescuing the victims, Katsina said: “Through the cooperation of our expanded strategic partners, we were able to establish links with the victims in Kuwait and immediately commenced the process of their rescue and at exactly 10:30 pm of May 2, 2015, the rescued victims arrived Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos. In company of our Special Force, the victims were safely brought to the Post-Trauma Unit of the Oyo State Police Command Hospital and Counselling.”
According to him, Rev. Victor Adelaja has since been arrested and sued to court.
On her current frame of mind, Daramola revealed that she was already adjusting to normal life again.
She praised the police for a job well done and warned young ladies against falling prey to fraudulent travel agents.
Human rights activist Comrade Shehu Sani yesterday said commoners in the North would be in “perpetual slavery”, if they did not resist money politics and elect credible leaders.
He said disaster awaited the region, if it continued to depend on “the Niger Delta’s oil money, which forms the monthly federation allocation to states”.
Sani, who wants to contest the Kaduna Central senatorial election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), addressed railway pensioners and workers yesterday at Kaduna Junction, state headquarters of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC).
He said: “Northern states cannot continue to survive on Niger Delta’s oil money. Our states are bereft of ideas that will generate revenue to run our affairs. There is no state in the North than can pay one month salary without federation allocation, and federal allocation is derived from the sale of the Niger Delta’s oil. This is dangerous and spells disaster in the future. Is it possible for someone to be feeding you without controlling you? Our visionary leaders like the late Sir Ahmadu Bello foresaw these dangers, yet our leaders betrayed the course of common good. If Nigeria splits today, the North is in danger.
“We must resist money politics and elect credible people. We must protect our votes. We are only number one in population. We have the highest number of senators, governors, local governments and councilors but have the highest number of beggars and oppressed citizens.”
Leader of the pensioners Mohammed Aliyu said their pension is 5,000 each. The pensioners pledged to work against money politics.
The gathering ended with prayers for peace and unity.
SIR: The damning report of the Australian anti-slavery campaign group, The Walk Free Foundation that Nigeria sweeps the board in mustering the highest number of people living in modern slavery in Africa is not only on the threshold of verifiable truth, but also in the crucible of sordid reality.
The foundation which defines modern slavery in the vistas and themes of human trafficking, forced labour, debt bondage, forced marriage, sale and exploitation of children, tangentially obviates workplace slavery, seedy and sub-human working conditions. However, for this pardonable lacuna, it blares out, “Victims of modern slavery, have their freedom denied, and are used and controlled and exploited by another for profit….”
It is logical and tenable to aver that if the organization had considered critically Nigerian workplaces and the working conditions of Nigerian workers, the published figures of 670,000 and 740, 000 (Nigerians living in modern slavery) would have quadrupled.
The sad truth is that some Nigerian workplaces are concentration camps, and working conditions in Nigeria are below the crust of salubrious standards.
It is without a doubt that some organisations in Nigeria do not adhere to labour stipulations as regards the treatment and working conditions of their employees. Labour organisations too, are either timid or indifferent when it comes to defending the rights of workers. This a rough blot on the Nigerian work system. The rising tide of unemployment too has foisted a mentality of “I work or I die” on Nigerian workers that they endure execrable depths of maltreatment, expurgating their rights from the rule books.
The present conditions of Nigerian workers call for accelerated actions in giving jagged teeth to labour laws protecting Nigerian workers from misuse, abuse, and capital dehumanization by their employers. Workers in general must be treated with dignity, fairness, and respect if maximum output is expected of them. It is when they are treated right that employers can avail themselves of the best of them.
