An undergraduate, Mercy Oluwagbenga, recently rescued from Libya, has opened up about the harrowing ordeal she endured while trapped in the North African country.
Speaking on Channels TV’s The Morning Brief on Thursday, the Kogi State native narrated how she worked without pay, was repeatedly beaten, and was forced to donate blood for her employer’s ailing mother.
According to her, what began as withheld wages turned into a shocking cycle of exploitation. “The third month their father came back… they started withdrawing my blood because their mom was sick,” she recalled, noting that the same nurse caring for the woman extracted her blood without hospital supervision.
When she resisted, the abuse intensified. “I refused to let them take my blood; that’s when the beating started,” she recounted. Oluwagbenga added that attempts to escape were thwarted, and her SIM card was frequently changed to prevent communication.
Her story sheds light on the grim reality of irregular migration. The Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, praised her courage and survival, describing her as “one of the lucky ones” compared to many who have perished in the desert or Mediterranean Sea.
Dabiri-Erewa urged Nigerian youths to seek safe and legal means of migration, warning that irregular journeys amount to “voluntary suicide.” She assured that NiDCOM would facilitate Oluwagbenga’s rehabilitation and reintegration.
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