● How Lack Of Valid Documents Forced Many Into Sex Work
● Merchants Lose Fortunes, Workers Lose Livelihoods As More Nigs Die In Depression
● Why President Tinubu Must Act Fast
Yes, most imperilled are the Nigerian girls and “businesswomen” living in Dubai. In the wake of hardship imposed by the UAE’s imposition of a visa ban on Nigerians, many of them have been forced into less ennobling livelihoods, commercial sex work aka prostitution.
Many of them have made a desperate recourse to prostitution as the hardship bites harder; the majority are currently stranded in the UAE with no means of earning a decent livelihood.
Aside from the stranded “businesswomen,” Dubai is currently teeming with Nigerian sex workers who relocated to the UAE via the human trafficking corridor to engage in commercial sex work.
Being a tourist destination with an endless influx of visitors from all over the world, these desperate young Nigerian ladies now find it more lucrative to ply their trade there.
Many of them frequent the upscale bars, where they shop for clients; the girls have a means by which they know when a new person just comes to town. A visit to the bar before was somewhat of an experience and what was seen is better imagined.
Nicely stacked ladies with the morals of alley cats whistling at men; over-dressed and over-made-up babes playing hookers; skimpily clad nubile creatures who will give a vicar impish ideas and bring hot tears to a eunuch’s eyes, itsy-bitsy beauties, sex sirens and vixens flaunting irresistible curves; you name it and you have your pick!
While some of these girls were willing participants in the trafficking ring, many of them were actually lured to Dubai and forced to work as sex slaves. A Nigerian lady from Benin city, Edo State, Nancy Igbinijesu, recently opened up about how she was trafficked to Dubai by her madam. This was shared in a recent interview on The Morning Show on Arise TV.
She revealed that her madam, who had taught her how to make hair, deceitfully lured her and a friend with the promise of better employment opportunities in Dubai. However, Igbinijeu was unaware that she was being trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
She said, “I was trafficked to the UAE, Dubai. We were deceived where I learned how to make hair. The woman promised us that we’ll have a better job there and a better pay while we got there. Meanwhile, she did the processes of passport and transport to Lagos.
“When we got there, the story changed. She said we should go into prostitution which we refused. Meanwhile, a friend of mine who introduced me to her, she was pushed from twenty-five storey building down, because she refused to comply with the Arab man that want to have sexual intercourse with her.”
Nancy added that her madam threatened her life if she spoke out and forcefully took the money she earned from those exploitative situations. She tried go reach out to the police, but was shocked by their involvement.
“We tried to reach out to the police, all to no avail, because the police men and CID were also patronizing us. Even when they had the visa ban, they were still trooping in girls; thousands of girls. In my own personal building where I stay, sometimes twenty, fifteen, do come.”
Human trafficking has been a grave issue in Africa, with victims being subjected to forced labor, sexual exploitation, and organ harvesting. They’re often are trafficked with false promises of better opportunities.
Against the backdrop of hardship experienced by the trafficked girls, many Nigerians involved in legitimate business have suffered irredeemable losses due to the visa ban imposed on them by the UAE authorities.
For instance, not a few Nigerians lament their loss of the ease of doing business and other opportunities hitherto brokered by their attainment of legitimate resident status – a privilege many UAE-based Nigerians have been denied.
Just recently, some Nigerians issued a Save Our Soul (SOS) plea to the Nigerian government, urging President Bola Tinubu to plead with the UAE authorities to lift the protracted visa ban it imposed on Nigerians since the last quarter of 2022. The ban has cost many legitimate residents in the country unanticipated losses; for instance, many of them have been unable to renew their work visas. And this has thrown many into a vortex of unpaid bills, unmet personal targets and depression. This has sent some to an untimely grave, said a Nigerian resident of UAE, who pleaded anonymity.
Despite the Nigerian government’s announcement of the lifting of the year-long visa ban barring Nigerians from entering the UAE following a meeting between President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of Nigeria and the President of the United Arab Emirates, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE authorities subsequently declared that the ban has not been lifted.
A statement from President Tinubu’s spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale, said that Tinubu and the President of the United Arab Emirates, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan finalized a historic agreement ‘which has resulted in the immediate cessation of the visa ban placed on Nigerian travellers.’
Ngelale also said that Etihad and Emirates Airlines are to immediately resume flights into and out of Nigeria. Yet, there are currently no flights scheduled to and from Nigeria on either Etihad or Emirates official websites.
However, an unnamed Emirati official was quoted by CNN as saying “There are no changes on the Nigeria/UAE travel status so far.” The source requested not to be named as he is not authorised to speak to the media.
The claim is at odds with the statement issued by the office of Nigerian President Tinubu on September 11, following his visit to the Gulf state.
Impact on Nigerians
As a result of the protracted visa ban on Nigerian passport holders, the latter have been on the receiving end of interminable hardship.
Most Nigerian businessmen and women have suffered unquantifiable losses due to the visa ban. Their businesses have suffered. A prominent magnate who recently opened a supermarket chain in the country has seen the chances of his franchise evaporate in thin air after losing over N20 million in processing and licensing fees.
“It’s a very sad situation,” he said, stressing that he might have to pack up and leave the country for friendlier climes.
Most traders engaged in import and export business along the Nigeria-UAE corridor have also suffered undue losses, which have caused a severe dent in their earnings and capital.
Those faced with an unavoidable need to travel to Dubai must go through the hassle of getting their travel document (visa) into the UAE via a neighbouring African or Middle Eastern country.
Many who can’t find a direct flight from Nigeria seek the options of flying to Accra in Ghana, and then to Dubai; to Istanbul, Turkey, and then to Dubai; or to Addis Ababa, before he heads to Dubai. Some also access Dubai through Cairo, Egypt.
However, there are a lot of challenges associated with such a venture. It takes an average of seven hours to take a direct flight from Nigeria to Dubai and between 12 hours and 20 hours to connect flights to Dubai, depending on the airline and waiting hours before making a connecting flight.
Apart from the time Nigerian travellers spend while making connecting flights abroad to their destinations, there are also other challenges.
For instance, at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra, for instance, they must pay for a yellow fever vaccination card which costs $150 before transiting to their final destination in UAE. At the Kotoka airport, they must also deal with the preponderance of touts reaping off unsuspecting travellers at every opportunity.
Following the declining load factors, most airlines, including Emirates and Air Peace, suspended flights to Dubai. Many travel agents disclosed that they had lost business due to the development.
Consequently, travel agents are now advertising Egypt, Morocco, and Seychelles, among others, to holidaymakers, businessmen and women and the sick.
The President of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA), Susan Akporiaye, said many Nigerians were now exploring other destinations for tourism.
She said, “Nigerians are already changing plans to go to Egypt and Morocco, but then these two countries require visa processes, but Egypt has made it a bit easier now.
According to data from the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC) in 2020, Nigeria exported goods worth N134bn ($321m) to the UAE. The OEC said the main products that Nigeria exported were gold ($217m), crude petroleum ($53.5m) and oily seeds ($16m).
On the other hand, the UAE exported goods worth N489bn ($1.14bn) to Nigeria. These included broadcasting equipment ($152m), refined petroleum ($119m) and cars ($118m).
This shows that the trade balance favours the UAE as more goods enter the Nigerian economy.
Genesis of the ban
In September 2022, Dubai’s Emirates Airline suspended flights to Nigeria over issues in repatriating funds from the country. This was followed a month later by the UAE imposing a visa ban on Nigerian citizens and rejecting all applications submitted with fees non-refundable. Flights were suspended for a second time in November after briefly being resumed.
In October 2022, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) imposed a visa ban on Nigerians and other African countries owing to an alleged increase in criminal activity in the Arab country.
However, on September 11, 2023, the Nigerian government announced that the ban had been lifted. While Nigerians wait anxiously for flights to resume, the elephant in the room sparks discussions on the reality of Nigeria’s negative global reputation which continues to plague the country’s international relations.
Recall that in December 2020, a memorandum of understanding was signed between Nigeria and the UAE to provide a platform for both countries to engage each other bilaterally.
However, in February 2021, the Federal Government of Nigeria stopped the UAE national carrier, Emirates Airline, from subjecting Nigerian travellers to additional rapid antigen tests as against its stipulated negative PCR test at the Lagos and Abuja airports before departure.
The Emirates Airline then shut down flights to and from Nigeria owing to the disagreement between it and the aviation authorities on the propriety of subjecting passengers travelling from Nigeria to an emergency COVID-19 protocol.
After an interface between the authorities of the aviation ministry and Emirates Airline, flights resumed, but the airline continued to conduct tests for passengers before departure from Nigeria, a development the federal government frowned at and thus suspended the airline from flying in Nigeria.
The UAE responded by refusing to renew Nigerians’ work permits, which offends the letters of bilateral agreements to which both countries are signatories to.
This was viewed as a calculated attempt to pressure the Nigerian government into accepting their conditions of service for their national airline that may have lost humongous revenue from the Nigerian route.
The disagreement was, however, resolved, but it is believed that there was still bad blood between the two countries.
