women who recently
returned from Libya
have narrated grueling
stories of how they
were tricked into prostitution by the
people who took them
to the northern African
country.
Read the disturbing
tales as told to Guardian
by some of the women;
21-year-old Ogechi
Gabriel from Imo State,
said: "I travelled in October
2016. The journey was
very tough; we passed
many obstacles – the
immigration, police, the
desert. When we finally got to Libya, we
suffered even more. We
have to earn money to
eat and to pay our
burger- the people that
took us there. They deceived us. They told
me I was going there to
work, they didn't tell
me I was going there to
do prostitution. When I got there, they
forced us to sleep with
men and they collect
the money. They said
we have to pay them all
the money they spent bringing us from
Nigeria and the amount
we owed was
N700,000. So any day
we sleep with men,
they collect the money. One morning, some
people came and
attacked us, they were
killing a lot of people,
when they came to our
place they broke down the door, they asked us
to come out and they
took us to prison." Nigerian government
should help us, we don't
want to go back to that
kind of work again."
24-year-old Vivian
Kelechi, said: "I thought it was a
normal job I will do, I
never knew it was
prostitution. I suffered a
lot, the guy that took
me there said he bought me from
someone else so I had
to pay him back. The guy that took me
there said I have to
repay him for the travel
expenses. He said the
money was N650,000.
What is paining me is that I have lost
everything, I have
nothing now, my mum
is dead and I couldn't
take care of her. I did
ashawo work for nothing, my womb is
down now, Each time I
want to bath, I feel my
womb and I know I
have infection. I was about to write my
WAEC, but I had to drop
out of school because
my mum was sick.
When my mum's
sickness got worse, someone told me about
the travel and I agreed
because I needed the
money to help my
mum. We need Nigerian
government to help us with jobs so we will not
go back to this kind of
work again."
26-year-old Aminat
Adewale, from Ogun
State, said: "I travelled last year
August. We were
deceived, the woman
that took us told us we
were going to Italy, not
by road but by air. So many people died on
the road, I am even
lucky to be alive. When
we reached Libya the
woman sold us. They didn't tell us the
kind of job we will do,
they forced us into
prostitution and made
us pay them. I chose to travel
because I couldn't get
job after my school. I
learnt nursing after my
secondary school, but
when I checked the hospital requirement
and found out that I
don't have that, I have
to look for a way to
survive. If our
government had helped us, we wouldn't bother
to travel to another
country."
21-year-old Deborah
Ebiwonjumi, from Ondo
State, said: "I travelled to Libya
February 2016. Some
people told my parents
that they will help me
get work in Libya, when
I got there, the madam I was working for beat
me. Last month, she
told me to bring soap,
when I brought it, she
pushed me and I fell
down. She told her husband
that I poured the soap
on the floor
deliberately, she beat
me and I broke my
hand, then they took me to the hospital and
abandoned me there.
When I recovered, I
didn't know the address
of my madam, so the
police came and took me to prison.
Gift Peters said: "I got to Libya 11
months ago after being
deceived that I was
being taken to
Germany. At Libya, they
sold me to someone who has a connection
house in Libya, where
we were maltreated
daily. If we don't want
to work, they will do
something to you that will make you wish to
die. Sometimes they use
iron to burn us. At
times, they will instruct
our fellow ladies to
urinate for us to drink.
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