The brutality of women trafficking from Nigeria: “Almost every day, between nine and 11 men had access to my body.”

Nigerian Maryam (26 years old) has fallen twice into the hell of human trafficking : first, she spent more than four years, between 2019 and 2024, as a victim of a sexual exploitation network in Algeria. When she managed to escape, she never fully regained her freedom: she ended up in Egypt, where she works tirelessly as a domestic worker and nanny. She receives a monthly payment of just 8,000 Egyptian pounds (about 141 euros), of which she is only owed 500 pounds (less than 9 euros) because, first, she must pay the "agent" who got her the job and her transfer to Egypt. "I've been sick since March 9th and I don't know exactly what I have. I told my sponsor, but far from being concerned about my discomfort, she told me not to even think about using her money to pay for the treatment," says Maryam by phone. She is still in Egypt and prefers not to reveal her real name for safety reasons.

This young Nigerian woman is one of thousands of victims of human trafficking in one of the countries most affected by this crime, according to reports from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the US State Department ( Trafficking in Persons Report ), among others. The latter, which cites the Nigerian government, estimates the number of trafficking victims in 2024 at 1,194. Of these, it says, 654 were sexually exploited and 540 were exploited for labor. And, according to the Counter Trafficking Data Collaborative , a data platform on human trafficking, the majority of Nigerian victims are taken to Libya (32%), Mali (225), and other destinations within Nigeria itself (17%).

Many young women travel to Arab countries under false pretenses, promised good jobs. However, when they arrive, the reality is different. Most fall into the hands of human traffickers and suffer various forms of exploitation. Some are forced into prostitution, while others are forced into shagala (domestic servant) work or other forms of domestic servitude, as Maryam is now experiencing.

This woman's story began in 2019. In January of that year, she says, she was tricked by a friend from her region, who told her she would get a job at a restaurant in Algeria. But when she arrived there, she was forced into prostitution and forced to repay the money her sponsor had paid for her trip. Between 2019 and 2024, during the more than four years she spent in that country, she never missed a payment on that debt.

Later, her sponsor sold her to a woman who had many other girls under her care. She was taken to a room where four other women already lived. She was not allowed to move around freely. According to the woman, when a man wanted to have sex with her, he would either go to the house where she was being held or take her to his house. “One day, they took me to a place where four men were waiting for me, held me for days, and forced me to satisfy them,” she continues. As she later learned, they paid 1,500 dinars (10.2 euros) per man for her, a sum that went directly to the madam who claimed to be her owner.

“Almost every day, between nine and 11 men had access to my body. They forced me to satisfy them sexually. I couldn't refuse, I had no choice. I witnessed horrible things. Once, they brought a new girl and raped her until she was lifeless. Then I saw them dispose of her body like garbage,” she says. According to her testimony, she was able to escape Algeria with the help of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Once they brought a new girl and raped her to death. Then I saw them dispose of her body like garbage.

Aisha Olaniya, victim of human trafficking

“But when I returned to Nigeria,” she adds, “I couldn't go back to my family because I hadn't achieved anything during those four years I spent in Algeria.” She felt ashamed, so she went to live with a friend who then introduced her to an “agent” who recruited workers for Cairo, Egypt. And the cycle began again.

“The agent told me she would get me a job as a housekeeper and nanny, and informed me that I would have to reimburse the travel expenses, which amounted to 18 months of my expected salary. However, when I arrived there, the story changed again: those 18 months became 24, without the agent explaining why,” she says.

Once in Egypt, the woman took her passport so Maryam couldn't escape. "I worked from morning to night cleaning, cooking, and taking care of children. The only time I was allowed to sleep was from five to nine in the morning," she explains. Since March, she has been sick, in debt, and without access to treatment.

A dangerous journey

A UNODC study shows that migrants without legal status frequently suffer extreme forms of violence such as torture, rape, kidnapping, and captivity. Migrants who rely on human trafficking networks to flee their countries of origin are often exposed to these serious abuses. Furthermore, according to a UN report on human trafficking , Nigeria is one of the African countries with the highest number of victims of human trafficking, 83% of whom are women and girls. Those who are taken abroad sometimes experience sexual and physical violence during their journeys, the report adds.

This is what happened to Florence (27 years old), a young Nigerian woman who also prefers to hide her real name. She decided to travel to Libya, lured by the promise of a job as a fashion designer. In December 2024, she left her two children behind, hoping to offer them a better life. She was transported hidden in a food truck and smuggled out of Nigeria illegally. The drivers demanded sex in exchange for transportation, and when she refused, they abandoned her in a desolate animal shelter, without food or water, where she was forced to spend the night among the animals.

“In the middle of the night,” she recounts, “three men armed with machetes and guns attacked me. They stabbed me repeatedly, raped me, and left me there, near death. I survived unimaginable horror for 34 days until I managed to reach Libya. I thought my suffering had ended,” she tells this newspaper.

In Libya, the nightmare continued. To pay her debt, she had to hand over her salary for months to the "agent" who took her to work as a caregiver for an elderly person. "I was subjected to inhumane treatment," she says.

Human traffickers are rarely strangers who approach their victims and take them by force. Fatima Waziri-Azi, a human trafficking expert and former director-general of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), says traffickers often approach young women with seemingly legitimate and well-paid job offers as domestic workers, models, caregivers, or hospitality workers. In some cases, they even promise scholarships or vocational training opportunities in Europe, the Middle East, or other African countries.

According to Waziri-Azi, the root causes of trafficking—generational poverty and lack of economic opportunities—remain unaddressed. In Nigeria, 30.9% of people live below the extreme poverty line , or $2.15 a day.

In the internet age we live in, traffickers skillfully manipulate online stories to idealize life abroad.

Fatima Waziri-Azi, former Director General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP)

“Young women are often under enormous pressure to support their families or escape an abusive environment. This pressure makes them more likely to take risks, especially when someone they trust offers them a way out. In the internet age we live in, traffickers skillfully manipulate online narratives that romanticize life abroad,” the expert explains.

For this reason, she adds, the fight against human trafficking cannot be limited to awareness campaigns. “They must go beyond disseminating information and foster people's ability to make decisions and know what they are capable of. It's also necessary to demystify these narratives and share the stories of survivors who detail the harsh reality of human trafficking. What I often tell young people is that nothing in this life comes for free,” she concludes.

Another pending task, adds Waziri-Azi, is for Nigeria to work on systemic and preventative policies that address the root of the problem. To alleviate the economic desperation exploited by traffickers, she says, a policy should be implemented to generate specific livelihoods for women in areas vulnerable to human trafficking, including access to interest-free microcredit and grants, vocational training linked to local market demands, and formal avenues to employment or self-employment.

“Single mothers, displaced women, widows, and women without schooling must be prioritized. To curb human trafficking, we must eradicate the conditions that make it profitable and easy. What we need is a policy response that takes into account gender issues, poverty, and the experiences of survivors, backed by political will at all levels,” she maintains.