Five Nigerian workers stranded in Basra, Iraq, have appealed to the Nigerian government for urgent intervention, lamenting that they were deceived by labour recruiters, forced into dangerous factory jobs different from the employment they accepted in Nigeria, abandoned after their visas expired, and subjected to hazardous working conditions that allegedly led to the death of one of their colleagues.
Narrating their ordeal to SaharaReporters, the workers, who said they now fear for their lives and worsening health conditions, called on President Bola Tinubu's administration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) to facilitate their immediate return to Nigeria.
Their appeal followed the death of their colleague, Yahaya Abdulrahaman Oladimeji, in what they described as a preventable industrial accident inside a block-manufacturing factory in Basra, where they said they had been transferred after being misled about the nature of the jobs awaiting them.
The stranded Nigerian workers who are calling for urgent help to return home are Ambali Sikirullahi Ayomide from Ilorin, Kwara State; Adebayo Tajudeen Olalekan from Ibadan, Oyo State; Oduola Afeez Odunayo, also from Ilorin; Idowu Olalekan Jimoh from Lagos, and Akinrinola Elijah Damilola from Ibadan.
