The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) says Nigerian ladies working in Iraq are exploited in diverse ways in the country.

NAPTIP said most of the Nigerian ladies worked as domestic workers in Iraq and were exploited on daily basis.

The NAPTIP Director-General, Prof Fatima Waziri-Azi, disclosed this via a statement issued on Thursday, May 4, while speaking on the plight of young women.

Waziri-Azi, who said most of the young Nigeria women were now requesting assistance to return home, noted that NAPTIP was currently investigating several rogue labour recruiters who had been reported to be big players in the massive recruitment of Nigerians to Iraq for domestic servitude.

She disclosed that Nigerian ladies were constantly being sexually harassed by members of the household where they were serving, stressing that this aggravated their situation.

The DG said awareness by the agency and other partners on the well-known destination countries across the globe has now made traffickers shift their attention to Iraq.

Waziri-Azi said: “We are inundated with pleas for rescue and repatriation from female victims trafficked to Iraq, especially to the cities of Baghdad and Basra where they are distributed to homes by their recruiters to a hard life of domestic servitude.

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“Available information shows that many of these victims have been admitted to hospital many times due to long work hours under harsh conditions they are forced to undergo.

“Most of them have complained of deteriorating health resulting from the weight of work.

“They are constantly under threat of being harmed either by their direct employers or the Iraqi agents, each time they complained of unbearable workload.

“Many of them have no access to their phones because their phones are seized immediately they are paired with an employer.

“They are never allowed out of the premises where they are serving and even when communication is established with them for rescue, they cannot give details of their location.”

The NAPTIP boss stated that the situation was a scary one, adding that the workload imposed on the vulnerable by their taskmasters was very worrisome.

She, however, called on Nigerians to be cautious of the desperate quest to travel out of the country for greener pastures, adding that it was the reason many Nigerians wanted to travel.

The NAPTIP DG noted that many Nigerian women had fallen prey to traffickers and the lies of labour recruiters who promised them juicy jobs overseas.

She stressed the need for people to evaluate every offer that came their way carefully and seek second and third opinions before accepting such offers outside the country.

“If a sponsor facilitates your travel, you will be forced to do any job to pay off your sponsor before earning money for yourself,” Waziri-Azi said.

Waziri-Azi added that NAPTIP would continue to work with relevant Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) in Nigeria and partners to ensure the safe return of the victims from Iraq.

The Star