An OAU graduate and victim of hunan trafficking, Oyinlola Solanke, has narrated how her boss attempted to rape her while working as a maid in Oman.
During a walk against girls trafficking and child labour in Abuja, Solanke, who was rescued by the Erelu Eyinade Foundation, said her in-law lured her with convincing tale of how she could earn N150,000 as a maid in Oman.
She said:
“While working as a maid, they don’t allow you to lock your door when in the room. The experience I had wasn’t a good one. There were a lot of things they didn’t tell me would happen.
When I got there, my passport was taken from me and secondly, I was not allowed to go out on my own. I spent 10 months there and it was just modern day slavery.
I had to lie about the death of my dad before they permitted me to return to Nigeria. I asked some of my friends to chat with me on WhatsApp that my dad was dead.
So, I had to lie that I would return to Oman in two weeks. I didn’t come back with most of my things. I still remember when I got there, I told them to get a resident card for me, but they didn’t.”
She went on to cautioned young Nigerians against falling for traffickers who promise a better life abroad. According to her, foreigners were treated shabbily and only allowed to do menial jobs.
“As a Nigerian, as a black person, you can’t get a good job there. When I was leaving Oman, I saw a lady who had spent just six days and wanted to leave because she couldn’t bear the treatment.
She wasn’t sexually abused, but she was over-worked, having to wake up at 4a.m. or 5a.m. and working till 1a.m. the next day. They won’t allow you to sit down for one second.
Now working as the secretary of the foundation, Solanke also revealed how she once threatened violence against her boss who attempted to sexually assault her.
She said:
“Sometimes, my boss actually comes to my room to forcibly have sex with me, but I trained in Taekwando when I was in school and that was one thing that helped me.“
