AUDIO: Nigerian woman trafficked to Oman begs for repatriation

Posted by admin Africa & World Politics, Headlines Monday, September 18th, 2017

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A Nigerian woman in Oman, a country on the Arabian peninsula, has passionately cried out to Nigerian authorities for help.

In an audio shared on social media, whose authenticitycould not be verified by The PUNCH, theunnamed woman made a desperate plea for help, asking anyone whogets the audio, to share it until it gets to the Nigerian authorities.

Speaking in Yoruba language, the woman begged for repatriation of herself and other ladies from Oman.

She explained that Nigerian women are used as slaves in the Arabian country. She said they are made to put in 20 hours of work everyday without any form of rest or break whatsoever.

“We wake up by 4 am and work till 12 am every day,” she said in the audio message. “Even when we are ill, they make us work for half of the day, and the next day, you must be ready to start work again.”

She said Nigerian agents who got them into the country are not helping matters, as they collude with Omani employers to further abuse them.

“If you say you are no longer working, they will beat you… just like the agents tell them to do, then they throw you into prison,” the obviously distressed lady revealed in the four minutes, 52 seconds audio message.

The lady who works as a maid in Oman revealed that she was tricked into the country. She said she wanted to go work in Dubai, United Arab Emirates but it was only when the agent returned her passport, with the visa, that she found out she was going to Oman.

Oman, an Arabic-speaking country of about 2.9million people has a history of showing little respect for human rights. Several stories about the ill-treatment of migrant workers have also emanated from the country which operates absolute monarchy. Even though the country abolished slavery in 1970, the 2014 Global Slavery Index placed Oman at number 45 because 26,000 people were still in slavery in the country at that time.

*Listen to the audio of the woman purportedly working in Oman

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