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.