How Nigerian Teenage Girl, Blessing Obuson Narrowly Escaped Being Sold For $30,000 In Russia
A Nigerian teenage girl identified as Blessing Obuson, 19, from Edo state, narrowly escaped being sold after two Nigerian men were arrested and charged with human trafficking. The men had struck a deal to sell her off for two million rubles (around $30,000).
READ ALSO: Nigerian Victims of Sex Trafficking Share Their Tales of Horror to Caution Others
According to her lawyer, the suspects agreed to sell her off to a police officer who posed as a client. Blessing, who is one of the many Nigerians stranded in Russia after the World Cup, also narrated how she was forced into prostitution.
An estimated 1,863 Nigerians who went to Russia in 2018; for the FIFA World Cup are still on the run in the country, more than two months after their Fan IDs expired.
Quite a number of females amongst them have been forced into prostitution by the traffickers who brought them into the country under the guise of being football fans.
According to a report, Blessing had assumed going to Russia for the World Cup competition would be an opportunity to find a job when she flew into Moscow on a fan ID in June. Rather, she found herself forced to work as a prostitute.
READ ALSO: ”I Slept With More Than 400 Men in Five Months” Victim Of Human Trafficking Spills
Fan IDs allowed visa-free entry to World Cup supporters with match tickets, but does not confer the right to work on them. Despite that, Blessing had hoped to work as a shop assistant to provide for her 2-year-old daughter and younger siblings back home.
Rather than get a job for her, she was locked in a flat on the outskirts of Moscow and forced into sex work along with 11 other Nigerian women who were supervised by a madam, also from Nigeria.
Blessing recounted after she was rescued by anti-human trafficking activists:
“I cried really hard. But what choice did I have? A lot of girls are still out there.”
She said her madam had confiscated her passport and told her she would only get it back once she had worked off a fictional debt of $50,000. Obuson told her story to a rare English-speaking client who got anti-slavery activists involved. She is not alone! There are other Nigerian women aged between 16 and 22 taken to Russia on fan IDs and who are forced into sex work. They all have also endured violence.
A 21-year old woman who chose to be anonymous recounted:
“They don’t give you food for days, they slap you, they beat you, they spit in your face… It’s like a cage.”
In September, a Nigerian woman was killed by a man who refused to pay for sex, police said. The Nigerian embassy later identified her as 22-year old Alifat Momoh, who had come to Russia from Nigeria with a fan ID.
Kenny Kehinde, who works with several Moscow NGOs to help sex trafficking victims, estimates that more than 2,000 Nigerian women were brought in on fan IDs.
He stated:
“Fan ID is a very good thing, but in the hands of the human traffickers it’s just an instrument.”
Kehinde called for more cooperation between the authorities and anti-trafficking NGOs during major sporting events, including the 2022 Qatar World Cup where a fan ID system is also being considered.
Anti-slavery group, Alternativa said its helpline had fielded calls from Nigerian women held in St Petersburg and other World Cup host cities. While a prosecution has been launched in Blessing’s case, police have been unable to act against suspected traffickers in other cases due to a lack of evidence.