SaharaReporters gathered that Kehinde, based in Lagos State, was tricked by a man in 2021 who promised her mother that they would arrange travel and work for her.
The life of a 22-year-old Nigerian woman, Kehinde Abisola Yusuf, is currently in danger after suspected traffickers lured her out of Nigeria to seek greener pastures and rather took her to work in Libya.
SaharaReporters gathered that Kehinde, based in Lagos State, was tricked by a man in 2021 who promised her mother that they would arrange travel and work for her.
She reportedly met the man in the Ketu area of Lagos.
Meanwhile, she was taken to Tripoli in Libya and was given work on the condition that she worked for free for 15 months before she could earn money for herself.
The woman left Nigeria around March 2022 – about nine months ago.
SaharaReporters was told that Kehinde’s diligence at her work in Sharadash 11 area of Tripoli, endeared her boss to her who inquired how she found her way to Libya.
Kehinde, whose parents are based in Ibadan, Oyo State, reportedly opened up to her boss that she was tricked into the North African country.
Meanwhile, the boss was said to have arranged a plan whereby Kehinde escaped from the area and stopped coming to work.
SaharaReporters learnt that when her traffickers inquired about her whereabouts, they were told that she “had simply escaped.”
According to a member of her family, those who trafficked her to Libya had “contacted her family and threatened to deal with her if eventually found.”
"Where she was taken to is not too far from where she was initially based. Hence, there is high risk of the traffickers capturing her. Her sister in Nigeria has been notified by those who took her to Libya that she would be dealt with for escaping," a source familiar with the incident told SaharaReporters on Saturday.
The drive for survival and for greener pastures has continued to force millions of young Nigerians, like Kehinde, to be at the mercy of death in attempts to cross over to Europe and other parts of the world.
The quest to escape poverty, hunger, unemployment and insecurity, among other reasons, caused a major segment of Nigeria’s population to seek alternatives for better livelihood prospects for themselves and their families.
For instance, in March 2022, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) assisted the safe return home of 162 Nigerian migrants from Libya, the fourth of such charter flight for the year, totalling 19,452 Nigerians assisted to voluntarily return home between April 2017 and February 2022, with more than 500 assisted in 2022.
The rescued people in March 2022 consisted of 41 women, 96 men, 14 children and 11 infants.
Those seeking economic survival see irregular migration as the best alternative, given the difficulty and resources involved in migrating through regular and legitimate routes. In many instances, very few of the original number who set out on these dangerous journeys live to tell their stories.
While many regularly drown in the Mediterranean Sea, many also die in the deserts, and others are sold as slaves in a modern slave market.
Most of the victims of this trade are from West Africa countries, and most commonly, Nigeria.