A Nigerian lady who had just returned from Libya, Blessing Muhammad, has narrated her ordeal both on her way to Libya and while in the North African country.
Blessing, who was a victim of human trafficking, told Vanguard that people thought she had died but somehow she came back to life while she was being buried.
She was among the 128 stranded Nigerians who returned from Libya on Tuesday.
The returnees arrived at the Cargo Wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, aboard Al Buraq Air Boeing 100 – 800 with registration number 5A-DMG.
The trip was facilitated by International Organisation for Migration, IOM.
The victim who was a hairdresser resident at Akungba, Ondo State, said she was deceived by a close neighbour before she started on her journey to “Europe.”
Blessing said her near-death experience in the desert was little compared to the punishment she suffered from her trafficker.
The young lady said she was forced into prostitution and from the trade, paid N4.5million to the trafficker.
She said, “Which mother will not be happy when her child is about to travel abroad? My mum bought clothes and make-over materials for me when I was about to travel.
“A popular big sister at Akungba approached my mother and convinced her that she would assist me to travel to Europe with the promise that I would be doing my hairdressing work or that of a housemaid to be able to raise money and support my mother and siblings.
“My mother had not been feeling well and she needed support. I was the second to the last born in the family. My elder siblings are not supportive because of their economic status.
“My journey through the desert was horrific. I was to be buried and a grave had been dug.
“But just as I was about to be thrown into the grave, I miraculously came back to life as I was later told. I left Nigeria on January 3, 2016 and the cold was at its peak at that time. I died but resurrected; that was all I can say.
“My experience in the desert was a child’s play compared with the inhuman treatment meted on me by my Burga (trafficker), who was from my town and lived on the same street with me.
“Despite my illness as a result of the harsh weather in the desert, my trafficker forced me to be deflowered on the day I entered Libya by fixing me up with a client.
“To God who made me, I used my body (engaged in prostitution) to pay my trafficker a total sum of N4.5million. The worst part of my experience was the mental instability I found myself in; this was due to various trauma I passed through in the hands of my trafficker who took nine of us out of Akungba. Of the nine, I am the only one back home due to my ill health.”
The returnees were received on behalf of the Federal Government by the Director General of National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, Alhaji Mustapha Ahmed.
Ahmed was represented by the Lagos Territorial Office Coordinator, Ibrahim Farinloye.
According to him, the returnees were 80 adults male, eight male children and two male infants.
Others are 30 adult females, four female children and four female infants.
