Dodo made the clarification
in a telephone interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday.
Nigerian Ambassador to
Saudi Arabia, Justice Isa Dodo, has refuted media report that he connived with
human traffickers to recruit ladies as domestic workers in the kingdom.
Dodo made the clarification
in a telephone interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday.
According to him, the
Foreign Affairs Ministry, the Ambassador and the Nigerian Embassy in Riyad have
no hand in recruiting Nigerians to work in Saudi Arabia.
He said “I learnt that some
Nigerian agents recruit domestic workers from Nigeria to Saudi Arabia.
“The process is done
without the knowledge of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Nigerian
Ambassador to Saudi Arabia.”
The ambassador, who said he
was in Saudi Arabia only seven months ago, said: “the issue of connivance does
not even arise
“I learnt that recruitment
of Nigerians to Saudi Arabia had been on for over three years.”
Dodo said that since he
assumed duty as ambassador, he noticed an increase in the number of Nigerian
women arriving Saudi Arabia to work as maids and decided to intervene.
He said that through his
intervention, a total of 1,000 housemaids were deported to Nigeria, explaining
that he was able to liberate 120 women, while Saudi Arabian security agents
arrested 780 and handed them over to the embassy for onward movement back to
the country during my state in the kingdom.”
He said that home based
officers working under him received different consular issues such as Social
Follow Up Office, Women Deportation Centre, prison and various polices and
officers treat the cases with dispatch .
He emphasised that the
Mission had also been inundated with different adverse reports on consular
issues, ranging from simple to complex many of whom were victims of false
promises and deception by local agents in Nigeria.
The ambassador, therefore,
called on the media to always crosscheck their facts before publishing and
advised reporters to confirm their stories from Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Nigerian Embassy and the two agents mentioned in the write up to get the truth
on all issues.
“I assure you that the
agents involved would tell you that they do not know who the Nigerian Ambassador is, let alone conniving
with them.
He advised the reporters
“to fear God in all their dealings instead of damaging the reputation of
innocent people.”
An online media outfit —
The Secret Reporters — had on June 11, 2018 accused the ambassador for
conniving with some agents who recruit Nigerian ladies to work as
servants/housemaids in Saudi Arabia.
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