‘Many Nigerian girls trapped in S/Arabia’

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) said over 50 Nigerian girls are stranded in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The Director General of the agency, Dame Julie Okah-Donli disclosed this on yesterday in Abuja, while briefing the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, on the outcome of the investigation on Nigerian girls trafficked to Saudi Arabia.

Okah-Donli said the team was set up by the minister after complaints were lodged by being innocently Kingdom.

“When the team visited Saud Arabia we met with more than 50 girls who were interviewed and we were told that there were many more girls who were stranded in various parts of Saudi Arabia,” she said.

She expressed concern over the rate at which young Nigerians are being taken out of the country to Saudi Arabia under the guise of securing them jobs.

She said a lot of Nigerian girls in Saudi Arabia are working under slavelike conditions in people’s home. NAPTIP on girls trafficked to the

Okah-Donli said most of them were raped, most are made to work 18 hours out of 24 hours and made to sleep in very poor condition and not paid in accordance with what the fraudulent trafficking agencies promised them.

“There is a very big cartel that works with some embassy officials, who secured visas for the victims because those who have genuine businesses don’t easily get visas but the trafficked,” she said.

She said the agency had written to the Saudi embassy and others to report to NAPTIP if they receive any suspicious applications.