Over 5000 Nigerian women are currently stranded in Iraq, the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) has said.
Chairman of the Commission, Hon. (Mrs.) Abike Dabiri-Erewa stated that the women travelled to Iraq as caregivers only to be stranded in the country.
She disclosed this in Lagos on Tuesday while addressing participants at the seminar on “Sensitisation and Advocacy Program for Promoting Diaspora Investment Potentials in South-West Nigeria” organised by NIDCOM in conjunction with G-Consulting International Services Limited.
Daily Trust reports that many Nigerians especially women have been stranded abroad after travelling through irregular means with promises of jobs.
Dabiri-Erewa told the participants selected from the Six South-West states that there are huge opportunities in Nigeria instead of migrating in the name of seeking greener pastures.
The Chairman disclosed that a husband sent his wife to Iraq to be a caregiver but the woman died mysteriously and the Nigerian Mission is helping to bring back the corpse.
She said, “As I speak with you today there are about 5,000 women stranded in Iraq. I just dealt with a case last week. A husband sent his wife to Iraq to be a caregiver. She’s dead.
“Can you imagine! Now how do you bring the body back? That’s what is worrying the husband. He doesn’t know where to start. So, we had to intervene. The mission had been able to intervene, they would do an autopsy to see how she died because she just died mysteriously being a caregiver.”
She explained that while there are challenges in Nigeria just like other countries in the world, there are huge opportunities for investment.
“And this is why we are having this workshop,” she said, adding it would be replicated in the other five geopolitical zones of Nigeria to train and educate the participants on the untapped opportunities in Nigeria for diasporan investment.
Group Managing Director of G-Consulting, Dr. Godfrey Ajayi Sunday stated that through the workshop, the firm would be mobilising over $100m in funding to support participants who want to engage in one business or the other in partnership with those in the Diaspora.
He said there are various investment opportunities in real estate, and agriculture, among others for Nigerians to tap into, adding the idea is to sell the opportunities to those in the diaspora to put in their money.
Other facilitators also encouraged the participants to jettison the idea of irregular migration and see how they can tap into available opportunities in Nigeria.