In Nigeria, young women are being deceived and lured to Arabian countries with promises of securing them promising jobs. However, upon arrival, the narrative changes. Most of them end up being trafficked and are forced into different forms of exploitation. Some are used for prostitution, while others are subjected to shagala work (housemaids), babysitting, and various other forms of domestic servitude.

A study on United Nations Office by Drugs and Crime (UNODC) shows that illegal migrants frequently face extreme forms of violence, including torture, rape, kidnapping, and captivity. Migrants who rely on human trafficking networks to escape their home countries are often exposed to these severe abuses.

A search of the International Labour Organization revealed that globally 27.6 million people are forced into labour, while 4.9 million are girls forced into commercial sexual exploitation.
On January 9, 2019, a 26 years old Aisha Olaniya was deceived by her area sister, who told her she would be working in a restaurant in Algeria. But when she got there, the narrative changed. She was forced into prostitution and made to pay back the money her sponsor had spent to bring her to Algeria. She ended up paying for all the years she spent there from 2019 to 2023, a total of four years.

Her sponsor later sold her to a woman who had many other girls under her control, using them all for prostitution. She was among them. The woman took her to a room that already contained four girls. with her, they became five sharing the space. She had no freedom of movement. Whenever men wanted to have sex with her, they either came to the house where she was kept or took her to their place.

One day, she was taken to a location where four men were waiting. She was kept there for days for their pleasure. She had no choice but to satisfy them. They used her however they wanted, and all the money they paid, 1,500 dinars per man went directly to the madam who claimed to own her.

“On most days, about 9-11 men would have access to my body per day. I was forced to satisfy them sexually. I couldn’t decline, refusal wasn’t an option, and even if I tried, I would still be forced. This was my daily reality for four years. I witnessed horrifying events. One time, a new girl was brought in and raped until she died. Her dead body was simply thrown away like trash in my presence” she added

“Some of the girls who were working alongside with me gave birth during that period, around 11 babies were born. But the babies were immediately taken away from their mothers so they could continue their work. None of us knew what happened to the babies afterward.

“They kept selling me to different men, passing me from one person to another like a commodity. But eventually, I managed to escape the country with the help of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

‘When I returned to Nigeria, I couldn’t go back to my family because there was nothing to show for the four years I had spent in Algeria. I felt ashamed and empty. Instead, I stayed with a friend who later introduced me to an agent for Cairo, Egypt. The agent told me I would be working as a housemaid and babysitter. I was also informed that I would need to repay my travel expenses with 18 months worth of salary. However, when I got there, the story changed again. The agent increased the repayment period to 24 months, without telling me the reason behind that.

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Aisha where she was babysitting 
“When I arrived Egypt , the agent who sponsored me seized my passport to ensure I couldn’t leave. I was being paid 8,000 Egyptian pounds per month, but 7,500 pounds went directly to the agent. I was only allowed access to 500 pounds for myself . I worked from morning until night cleaning, cooking, babysitting. I barely got any rest. I wasn’t allowed to sleep at night because I have to watch over the baby. The only time I was permitted to sleep was from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. just four hours of rest a day.

“Since the 9th of March, I have been sick, and I don’t know what exactly is wrong with me. I often feel a sharp pain in my lower abdomen. I informed my sponsor about the pain, but instead of showing concern, my sponsor told me that I must not use her (the sponsor’s) money for treatment. She told me I had to complete my repayment before seeking any medical help. Till this moment , I had only paid for 8 months, with 18 months remaining.

Apanise Toyosi, a 27 years old Nigerian woman, was also deceived to Libya with promises of a fashion designing job. She left behind her two precious children, hoping to provide a better life for them. But her dream quickly turned into a nightmare. She was packed together with raw food, hidden from view, and smuggled out of Nigeria. The drivers who transported her demanded sex, and when she refused, they abandoned her in a desolate animal shelter. With no food or water, she was forced to sleep with animals.

“But my ordeal was far from over. In the dead of night, three men armed with machetes and guns attacked me. They stabbed me repeatedly, raped me, and left me to death. I survived 34 days of unimaginable horror before reaching Libya. Upon arriving in Libya, I thought my suffering had finally come to an end.

”However, my ordeal continued as I was forced to hand over my entire salary to the agent for over a year, with a month still remaining. Against my will, I was employed as a nanny for an elderly person, subjected to inhumane treatment, and left to endure the traumatic experience of being urinated and vomited on.m”, she narrated.

In spite of perceptions, traffickers are rarely strangers

Professor Fatima Waziri-Azi, an anti human trafficking expert and former director general of National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) ascertains that human traffickers often approach young women with seemingly legitimate offers of jobs such as good paying domestic work, modeling, caregiving, or hospitality roles. In some cases, they even promise scholarships or opportunities for vocational training in Europe, the Middle East, and other African countries.

“The agency had handled cases where friends, colleagues, acquittances, relatives, neighbors, and even former victims turned recruiters were responsible for trafficking victims.

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Waziri-Azi , the former director general of NAPTIP
Causes of human trafficking remain unaddressed

Fatima emphasized that from her experience working in the trafficking ecosystem, awareness and campaigns are good but they are definitely not enough to stop human trafficking. While information has helped, many women still fall victim because the root causes of human trafficking remain unaddressed.

And what are those root causes?
Generational poverty and lack of economic opportunities. When survival is at stake, and no viable options exist at home, even risky opportunities can seem better than no opportunity at all. Traffickers exploit this desperation with promises of jobs or financial stability abroad.

“Secondly, young women often face enormous pressure to support their families, or escape abusive environments. This pressure makes them more likely to take chances, especially when someone they trust is offering a way out. In the age of social media, traffickers skillfully manipulate online narratives to glamorize life abroad. Obviously, the internet has no boundaries as such traffickers have unlimited access to victims and they capitalize on this intense craving for success, a craving that sometimes blinds individuals to red flags, warnings, and due diligence.

“Which is why awareness campaigns must redefine what success looks like, not just abroad, but locally. It should go beyond information-sharing to building decision-making and self-assessment skills and expose the myth where survivor stories that detail the harsh truth of trafficking are shared.

“What I often tell young people is that there is no free lunch anywhere, if it is free, then they are clearly the product. In essence, awareness must be paired with access to safe jobs, strategic education, protection, justice, and empowerment. Until women have real alternatives and systems of support, traffickers will continue to exploit the gaps” she said

Mental and physical health impacts on survivor

According to Fatima, the mental and physical impacts on survivors are deep, long-lasting, and often invisible. Survivors of domestic servitude and sexual exploitation suffer both mental and physical trauma. The mental health Impacts include Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression and suicidal ideation. The physical health impacts include chronic pain and fatigue, Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), reproductive health damage, and malnutrition

Measures to reduce human trafficking

She emphasized that to reduce trafficking, especially of women from economically vulnerable backgrounds, Nigeria must move from reactive interventions to systemic, preventive policies that address root causes. To reduce financial desperation which traffickers exploit, there should be a targeted livelihoods policy for women in trafficking-prone areas that include access to interest-free microloans and grants; vocational training tied to local market demands; formal pathways to jobs or self-employment.

“To improve safety for women seeking work abroad, labour migration frameworks should be enforced. There should be strict licensing, background checks, and regular audits of labor recruitment agencies. To reduce economic vulnerability, social safety nets should be strengthened and beneficiaries should include victims and at-risk women.

“Single mothers, displaced women, widows, and school dropouts should be prioritized. To reduce trafficking, we must stop the conditions that make it profitable and easy. What we need is gender-smart, poverty-aware, and survivor-informed policy response, backed by political will at all levels” she added.

Former NAPTIP Director-General Speaks on Prosecution, Victim Support

Repeated attempts to reach the current leadership of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) went unanswered. But Fatimah Waziri-Azi, former Director-General said the agency had investigated and prosecuted many traffickers parading as travel consultants, tour operators and travel agencies.

“It (NAPTIP) rescued victims who were subsequently rejected by their immediate families, support them by providing rehabilitation and reintegration support through vocational and educational empowerment some of whom were employed by the agency. In fact, in 2023 it employed 4 victims to work as full staff”, she revealed.