A young Nigerian lady who gave her name simply as Adetomisin has relived how she was always harassed sexually and treated as a slave by her masters in Oman.

Adetomisin, a native of Ondo State, South West,  Nigeria,  in  a video that went viral online, said her agreement with the agent  was  that he would take her to the United States of America to get a good job but the trafficker ended up selling her off to Oman, where she is presently stuck and regretting.

The embattled lady recounted her ordeal in Yoruba Language for reasons best known to  her but we have transcribed it for the benefit of people who do not understand the language.

Her words: “Good evening children of Nigeria. My name is Adetomisin. I am a Nigerian from Ondo State. I am speaking to you from Oman right now.  When I was leaving Nigeria, it was USA that my agent and I agreed that I will travel to, to go and work.  When I completed my NCE programme, didn’t  get a job and saw the situation of things that I decided to travel. My agent promised to help me to secure a job in the USA. All of a sudden, everything changed and I was taken to Oman together with one other lady. When we got to the airport at Oman, two people came to pick us. They took us to one office where they took our passports and our phones.

“After that they drove us to where we would be working. When we got there, my boss started frustrating my life. For the first four months that worked for him, he didn’t pay me any salary nor any allowance. When I called my agent, he said  he had played his part and that there was nothing more he could do.

“Since then, my agent has refused to answer my calls. Then, my boss started threatening to have sexual relationship with me but I refused. I work from 4am till 12 or 1 am every day. He started threatening to kill me if I would not do what he wanted me  to do. I told him I wasn’t going to work again and that I should be returned to my country. They later took me back to the office where I was taken to on arrival. When we got there, they started shouting at us and thereafter locked us up in a room for a whole week without food or water.”

During the horrific one week detention, Adetomisin said: “Most of us drank water from the toilet for that whole week  before they took us out again to go and work.  I have spent one year and two months in the new place and I have told my boss that I am sick and that I should be allowed to return to my country but he said no, that he would not allow me to go.

“Nigerians please help me, I want to return home …(sobbing). I am sick o,  and my boss said I cannot come back home. My number is 96892544763.”

We’ve found Adetomisin- Omotola Fawunmi RAIS co-founder

Co-founder of Returning Africans in Slavery (Project Ferry) Omotola Fawunmi, says Adetomisin  has been found in a tiny city, which is six hours away from Oman’s capital, Muscat.

She said: “We saw her video online weeks ago and decided to investigate as with many others that we put up for help on our end.

“From the video we learnt she was in Oman and her story was compelling, clearly a case of fraudulent recruitment.

“We reached out to our network of associates who found us an on-ground Omani contact. The contact called the number she mentioned in her video and gathered that she was desperately desiring to escape.

“She is not home yet because she is 6 hours outside Muscat where our Oman contact lives. We are hoping once the lockdown ends, we would be able to get her back home.”

She added: “This is the fate of a lot of young girls in Nigeria. There is usually a Nigerian agent and a destination country agent. Both pose as recruiting or travel agencies.

“The Nigeria agent sources the girls with a promise of jobs in a foreign country, you hear things like ‘he told me I would work in an office’.

“The office is in fact the destination countries agents’ office who is just a receiver and logistics coordinator to receive the girls for onward sales to a predetermined buyer who has paid $5000-$10000 for a girl to serve as his domestic slave.

“The girl is unaware she is being sold. She arrives the destination country supposedly to work but is then handed over to a master she is not aware of. Often this master pays $150-200/month and a percentage of this is demanded by the Nigerian agents.”

RAIS has been involved in the rescue of these girls since 2019 and in partnership with government institutions like the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and the Diaspora Commission, have helped 51 girls return to Nigeria from Oman, Lebanon and Cote d’Ivoire.

According to her, they have helped 25 girls escape slave masters in Lebanon. “They are currently in our care till borders open again,” she said, “once borders open we can negotiate their safe return.”

“We have over 100 still with Slave Masters in Lebanon, over 150 in Oman and 300 in Cotedivoire and our team remain committed despite the daunting task. We all work remotely in different parts of the world because one of our teammates was killed in January while tracking a Nigerian agent” she disclosed.

We are working towards her safe return- NAPTIP

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), via its twitter handle says it is working towards the safe return of Adetomisin. The tweet reads: RE ADETULA OLUWATOSIN ITUNUOLUWA TRAFFICKED TO OMAN

@DGNaptip appreciates the concerns of partners and stakeholders on the plight of the above said lady trafficked to Oman.

“The Agency in its’ usual manner is working assiduously through intelligence gathering and partnership with stakeholders in the destination country with a view to ensuring her safe return to Nigeria.

“At the moment, she is out of the reach of her traffickers and currently taking shelter in a safe location. In the same vein, the Agency is frantically making efforts to bring her back home and also prosecute her traffickers.”