A Nigerian migrant, Mercy Olugbenga, has narrated how she was confined and subjected to repeated blood extractions for her employer’s ailing mother while working in Libya.
Mercy, who spoke on ARISE TV’s Sunrise Daily on Wednesday, said she had travelled to Libya in search of greener pastures after dropping out of school and selling family property to fund her sick mother’s treatment.
Instead, the Kogi-born woman endured four years of abuse, including a year-long confinement in her employer’s home, where nurses visited monthly to draw her blood without consent.
“I thought it was routine, but later realised they were using my blood for their mother’s treatment,” she recalled tearfully.
She said she initially worked without pay for 18 months to settle a ₦2.5 million fee owed to the agent who trafficked her, before being trapped in exploitative domestic servitude.
“They locked me in the house, locked the gate, and prevented me from going out. I was treated like an animal,” she said, describing the harsh treatment faced by African migrants in Libya.
Mercy, who abandoned her university studies in 2018, appealed for support to return to school. “I don’t want any young girl or boy to go through what I went through. Please don’t follow this route,” she pleaded.
Receiving her in Abuja, the Chairman/CEO of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, hailed her resilience, noting that “many others have died in the desert or the Mediterranean Sea, while some remain untraceable.”
In a statement by NIDCOM spokesperson, Abdur-Rahman Balogun, Dabiri-Erewa cautioned youths against irregular migration, describing it as “voluntary suicide,” and urged Nigerians to always explore safe and legal travel options.
