NAPTIP DG laments plight of Nigerian women working in Iraq, says they are being exploited

The Director-General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, Prof Fatima Waziri-Azi has lamented the plight of Nigerian women working in Iraq, saying that they are being exploited in diverse ways out there.

Prof. Waziri-Azi explained that some women of Nigeria nationals working as domestic staff in Iraq are being exploited on daily basis which most of them are requesting to beat

She stated this in a statement while speaking on the plight of women in Iraq on Thursday, noting that NAPTIP was currently investigating several rogue labour recruiters who had been reported to be big players in the massive recruitment of Nigerians to Iraq for domestic servitude.

The DG also said that awareness by the agency and other partners on the well-known destination countries across the globe had now made traffickers to shift attention to Iraq.

“We are inundated with pleas for rescue and repatriation from female victims trafficked to Iraq, especially to the cities of Baghdad and Basra where they are distributed to homes by their recruiters to a hard life of domestic servitude.

“Available information shows that many of these victims have been admitted to hospital many times due to long work hours under harsh conditions they are forced to undergo.