Wednesday, January 22, 2025 - Over 5,000 Nigerian women are currently stranded in Iraq after being sent as caregivers, the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) has revealed.
The commission's chairman, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, disclosed this
during a seminar on “Sensitisation and Advocacy Program for Promoting Diaspora
Investment Potentials in South-West Nigeria,” held in Lagos. The event was
organised by NiDCOM in collaboration with G-Consulting International Services
Limited.
Dabiri-Erewa recounted a recent case where a Nigerian woman, sent by her
husband to work as a caregiver in Iraq, died under mysterious circumstances.
“As I speak with you today, there are about 5,000 women stranded in Iraq. I
just dealt with a case last week. A husband sent his wife to Iraq to go and be
a caregiver. She’s dead,” she said.
The commission is now working to repatriate the woman's body. “How do
you bring the body back? That’s what is worrying the husband. He doesn’t know
where to start. So we had to intervene. The mission had been able to intervene,
they would do an autopsy to see how she died because she just died mysteriously
being a caregiver,” Dabiri-Erewa added.
She emphasized the importance of exploring local opportunities instead
of risking dangerous migrations. “There’s no point in seeking a better life and
then you die in the process. This is our own little way of saying there are
opportunities in Nigeria,” she noted, adding that similar workshops will be
conducted across Nigeria’s geopolitical zones to promote investment potential.
Dabiri-Erewa also highlighted the growing trend of African Americans and
others in the diaspora tracing their roots to Nigeria. “We received about 14
people yesterday. They traced their roots and did their DNA. They realized that
they are Nigerians... They are beginning to find out where they come from, some
are Fulani, Igbo, Yoruba, and they want to come back home and invest in
Nigeria,” she said.
Group Managing Director of G-Consulting, Dr. Godfrey Ajayi Sunday,
stated that the workshop aims to mobilize over $100 million in funding to
support participants interested in partnering with the diaspora for business
opportunities. He identified sectors such as real estate and agriculture as key
areas for investment.
Other facilitators urged participants to avoid irregular migration and
explore Nigeria’s untapped potential. “While some people want to japa, many
African Americans want to come back,” Dabiri-Erewa concluded, emphasizing the
need to encourage diaspora investment in the country.
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