By Olamilekan FAWAS
Nigerian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Justice Isa Dodo, has refuted media report that he connived with human traffickers to recruit ladies as domestic workers in the kingdom.
Dodo made the clarification in a telephone on Wednesday.
According to him, the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the Ambassador and the Nigerian Embassy in Riyadh have no hand in recruiting Nigerians to work in Saudi Arabia.
He said: “I learnt that some Nigerian agents recruit domestic workers from Nigeria to Saudi Arabia. The process is done without the knowledge of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Nigerian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia.”
The ambassador, who said he was in Saudi Arabia only seven months ago, said: “the issue of connivance does not even arise. “I learnt that recruitment of Nigerians to Saudi Arabia had been on for over three years.”
Dodo said since he assumed duty as ambassador, he noticed an increase in the number of Nigerian women arriving Saudi Arabia to work as maids and decided to intervene.
He said through his intervention, a total of 1,000 housemaids were deported to Nigeria, explaining that he was able to liberate 120 women, while Saudi Arabian security agents arrested 780 and handed them over to the embassy for onward movement back to the country during my state in the kingdom.”
He said home based officers working under him received different consular issues such as Social Follow Up Office, Women Deportation Centre, prison and various polices and officers treat the cases with dispatch.
He emphasised that the Mission had also been inundated with different adverse reports on consular issues, ranging from simple to complex many of whom were victims of false promises and deception by local agents in Nigeria.
The ambassador, therefore, called on the media to always crosscheck their facts before publishing and advised reporters to confirm their stories from Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nigerian Embassy and the two agents mentioned in the write up to get the truth on all issues.
“I assure you that the agents involved would tell you that they do not know who the Nigerian Ambassador is, let alone conniving with them.”
He advised the reporters “to fear God in all their dealings instead of damaging the reputation of innocent people.”
An online media outfit — The Secret Reporters — had on June 11, 2018 accused the ambassador for conniving with some agents who recruit Nigerian ladies to work as servants/housemaids in Saudi Arabia
