Inquisitively, I asked him, where are you from? In a tired and sorrow-laden voice, he replied, ‘my brother na from Niger.’  What about you?, he, too, asked, aked from me. I replied, same country. To enable us flow without any inhibition, I went ahead, to ask him in pidgin English, ‘Bros, wetin you dey do for dis dry land? My brother, he replied, na Sanpaa. While our conversation was ongoing, my partner kept mute. He was smart enough to know the term Sanpaa was beyond my grasp, so, he whispered to me in Yoruba, what it meant. Unable to stand this, I asked aloud, Sanpaa, all the way from Nigeria ! How you con enter this jagajaga?, I asked him in a befuddled state. Bros, na long story, he responded, in a grieving and modest voice. This tragic and heart rendering story in addition to other means used in tricking people abroad constitute the hub of this piece. What a tale of agony which profiles what and how Nigerians have been exploiting the mad rush to travel abroad as a means of duping people of their meagre and hard-earned money. 

Sanpaa, means the hawking of items which may include toothpick, cotton bud, cutleries, wall clocks, and some other petty items. It also passes for street hawking. My fellow countryman, who would be subsequently referred to as Victor, is one of those guys who strongly believe that life abroad is far better than Nigeria . Victor is from a struggling Nigeria family which can hardly afford three daily square meal. The hardness of time is so pressing on his parents such that they cannot meet the expenses of sending Victor to school. He eventually learnt the usual act of buying and selling and was planning to join his friends in the popular Alaba market. This was with the hope of fending for himself, and eventually, become his family’s breadwinner. How to get the capital was a major issue which kept Victor postponing his planned trip to Lagos , where he hoped to join his fellow town men.  

On one rainy afternoon, Victor received a call from an old friend who had travelled outside the shores of the country. ‘Oh boy! Na village you still dey.... No hope for you oh because if you think sey e go better like that, you no go ever make ‘em for life. I just say make I ring you oh, because as I don dey for paradise now, he no go make sense make I no say hallo to you my padi. You feel dey call me on this line.... Greet papa and other’s oh!.’  

As Chukwu dropped his call, Victor became restless. He began to think of what to do. He thought of either to continue with his Alaba dream or relate with Chukwu, his age-long childhood friend, who now lives in paradise.  

After a week, Chukwu had another phone conversation with Victor. During their conversation, Chukwu informed him how he meditated over his plight and how he planned to rescue him (Victor) out of the pangs of poverty. He briefed Victor how he would arrange for his travelling. This would required a specific amount, Chukwu declared, and recouping this, he added, would be after two months of Victor’s arrival in the land of plenty.  

Victor discussed this with his mother who in turn approached her husband that they should sell one of their parcels of land to enable them send their son abroad. At first, the father was a bit skeptical. After much pressure was mounted on him, he decided to sell a plot of his land. He made about one million naira out of this, and this was invested on Victor’s purported ‘journey to paradise’.  

Chukwu truly lived to his promise by securing Victor a travelling permit. Victor told me of how, on his arrival in the land of destiny, he had hoped to compensate his father, whom he fondly referred to as my papa. However with Chukwu vanishing into the thin air after a while, Victor soon realised that a friend whom he trusted, a townsman with whom he had once shared the agony of poverty and more importantly childhood experience had deceived and abandoned him in the middle of the red sea. What to do and how to put smiles on his ageing and now hopeful parents occupied Victor’s mind, and, so, started his spirited search through the obviously uncertain for the likelihood of a certain means of survival.  

While roaming the street of the purported destiny land which so turned out to be a land of hustling, Victor met some Niger boys who were also on the street for the sake of survival as he was. These were able and tough looking boys who had fallen prey of the antics of Chukwu’s likes. Desperate to survive in a land where race and money are all that matters, Chukwu chat up his colleagues on the ‘tarmac’ by asking them how and what they had been doing to survive in what he called desert land. Oh boy!, the gang leader replied, na scammer be the gist, powder work and arranging people as dem arrange you. Oh boy!, na like this e bee, so was Victor told.  How to do this? Just dey follow us.  

After realizing that what was being implied was 419, drug trafficking and playing all sorts of dubious pranks to swindle people of their money, Victor developed cold feet. He told me how his mind became filled with the consequences awaiting him, if he was caught by the laws of the land. He narrated how he dreamt of ending up in jail and how disappointed his parents became. Will I end up like other members of the ‘tarmac,’ who had been killed or jailed when caught by the law enforcement agents? Victor told me, and he continued to ask himself all sorts of apprehensive questions. These questions, Victor battled to provide convincing answers but none existed.  

How would I get out of this jumble?, he kept wondering. He thought of trekking back to Nigeria and at a point, to declare himself asylum seeker, but, he soon realised that there was no room for this in the land which despises some faces. What to eat, where to sleep and what to do?, were the ragging questions which paralysed the hopeless Victor. Victor told me how he cried ceaselessly and was shouting papa, mama, and Jehovah, wetin I do to deserve this wahala and suffer suffer since when den born me.

Bros, Victor continued in an emotionally tensed spirit and morally downtrodden mood, at last, I decided to leave the ‘tarmac’ boys. 

Unlike many others, Victor withdrew to face the challenge of life head-on by courting raw hardship, in a land where foreigners are burden. If the sons of the land are partly responsible for this stereotype, what do we say of our ‘tarmac’ boys who are transacting the mugun and atike (powder) business? Both have their blames, I suppose.  

Eventually, Victor chose to do Sanpaa so as to keep body and soul together. All this while, I could not look Victor in the eyes because I was simply overwhelmed as I could not withstand the raw hardship he was going through. I felt raw hardship in his look, expression, and was almost moved to shedding tears because never would I have wished my worst enemy such suffering harship. This was a hardship he paid for and travelled all the way from Nigeria to book a date with. If this had come at no monetary price, and without having to board a plane, at least, the adrenalin of human compassion and the spirit of one soul, and one humanity would not have been crushing me. He bought hardship, travelled into hard times, and now lives in hardship.  

In a low voice, I summoned a man-like courage to ask him, wetin you com tell your mama and papa. Bros, he said, in a cry-loaded voice, the true storri. He went ahead to narrate how his mother had been trying to raise money so that he could make it back home and possibly try his luck with the Alaba market. Victor ended his story by telling us that, na so e bi oh, na niger man dey put eim niger brother inside problem. To sey I know, I for no come. If I don use the money wey I use for travelling for my Alaba trade, bros,  I for don make ‘em oh. I wish to help Victor as much as Gboye (not real name), my colleague also desired. But, all we could do was to wish him good luck and thank him for all he has done for us. We both parted ways as we boarded buses heading to different destinations. 

The story of Victor is just one variation of how some Nigerians recruit and deceive themselves into the uncertainty of living abroad. Victor did not join the fray by tricking others who like him, would gladly welcome any saviour that could facilitate their sojourn abroad. What a sad story!, which passes for a fraud, deceit and human trafficking. In the second variation which completes the cycle of what Victor failed to do by joining the fray of recruiters, I will also illustrate with the story of one divorcee.  

Owing to matrimonial problems, the woman in question joined the wagon of those single mothers, seeking greener pasture abroad. Little did she know that the crookedness and agony of fate were lurking around her.  Her arrival was not as smooth as she expected because she soon became a victim of visa racketeering. There is another version of the story which has it that, she got into this mess following a bogus attempt by a lecturer tuned student recruiter to fix things for her. In actual fact, reliable reports have it that the this lecturer was initially a student-recruiter, but, was only appointed a lecturer after the university college he was recruiting for realized his confirmation as a lecturer would get him more committed to recruiting more students for them. On this note, the man is better addressed as a student-recruiter turned lecturer. What remains indisputable is that she paid dearly with everything that matters to a woman of substance, physiologically, and materially. She was not only violated beyond redemption, but also made a slave of flesh. Her case was so compounded such that her international passport was confiscated. What a sad story of a woman who was used to the near state of never to be useful again!  

One day, this woman managed to escape from the iron grip of her subjugator. So, she began another chapter of her life by looking for a comforter who could bail her out of this horrible travail. Luckily, she ran into one gentle man who is reported to have known her while in Nigeria . She summoned effort, yet tearfully, to chronicle her predicament to the familiar face whose support and assistance she hoped for. Forthwith, the man whose help was sought will be referred to as Kunlesi.  

Mr. Kunlesi was so emotionally overtaken about the woman’s plight, to the extent that he fought back tears from his eyes. It was such a hopeless case of over-use and reckless abandon. To cut the long story short, Mr. Kunlesi pledged his assistance. With religiosity of intent and purpose, Mr. Kunlesi played the role of the much sought comforter by securing this woman admission for higher studies. In effect, she regained her freedom from the control of those who have ‘liquidated’ her womanhood.  

Instead of exploiting her new found opportunity for the acquisition of knowledge, she began the act of making monetary gain out of her new status. It did not take her long to study the terrain and get herself acquainted with how her studentship might be exploited to make a living. She began and soon perfected the act of arranging student visa. This would require securing admission for prospective travelers from Nigeria. The admission which she secured at no cost, as reported, trades for around $1000 dollars.  

Realizing the profitability of her new fond business, she managed to secure her school’s certification as one of its special programmes’ recruitment agent. This boosted her confidence level and granted her business a measure of legitimacy. Her price tag then soared. 

She also managed to get such certifications from other schools. Since most of her clients are either school dropouts or non-students, she also provides them all the academic documents requisite in arranging student-visas. She attracted strong patronage within a short time. One of the antics used by her in swaying her clients is to deceitfully impress in their minds, the streams of opportunities that await them abroad. In the long last, her clients have always been ending up being victims of misinformation, dupe, fraudster, trafficker, monster, and husband snatcher.  

There was the case of one man, an herbalist, whom this woman arranged a student visa on the deception that he would get a good pay as tanker driver. The man who sold his property with the hope of earning 1500 USD a month met his waterloo on arriving his destination abroad. After his arrival and all outstanding fees paid his agent, our dear madam left for another recruitment trip in Nigeria . While in the dark regarding how to get job as a tanker driver, the old man approached those Nigerians with whom the woman resides in the neighbourhood. Baba was simply told that he was a victim of human trafficking and was advised to leave the country before the expiration of his visa.  

When asked of his job in Nigeria, he said Herbalist. Didn’t you request the oracle’s divination, people enquired from the poor old man. He replied, we rely on others to do that for us because this is the rule. The man who was later mocked, eventually left for Nigeria. A number of people are still being recruited year-in year-out by this woman, some of whom end up prostituting themselves and others, slugging it out with the agony of fate.. 

The third variation of how some Nigerians treacherously lure themselves abroad will be instanced by citing two different stories, each of which illustrates the two sub-variations that make up this variant. The first sub-variant under this mode of recruitment involves opening a liaison office in Nigeria, with the anchor man being a resident abroad. The other merely requires having an operational base in Nigeria where the scope man also resides. The former’s edge over the latter is that the residency of the scope man in a foreign country offers a stamp of legitimacy, thus, enabling him secures the confidence of his soon-to-be clients.  

To typify the first sub-variant under this category, the narrative of one pot-bellied man who for the purposes of convenience would be referred to as the ‘Man from Saba’ suffices. Like the madam whose example was cited in the first part of this article, the ‘Man from Saba’ is another ungrateful creation who, instead of facing his academics squarely, resorted to making money out of this studentship. Authenticated report from family sources proclaimed that he decided to travel abroad due to frustration. He mounted pressure on a distance relative who is schooling overseas and friends alike to help him secure admission in any foreign school. Going by the extent of his frustration, he would not have disregarded the options of Israel, Iraq and Afghanistan. This Saba Man was then running an internet cyber café and as acclaimed, he was also a part-time lecturer in a School of Communication, located in Nigeria’s economic nerve centre. His café was not only providing internet services, but was also used for other purposes. At a time, the ‘Man from Saba’ was reported to have placed an advert that he can help couples secure work permit in Turkey. This was one of the auxiliary services of the café. What a funning development! as a recruiter who wanted to help others in arranging traveling permits was also relying on others to help him out. 

Committed friends in collaboration with a family member eventually helped the ‘Man from Saba’ secured admission. He was not charged a penny by these good Samaritans. With this, and like the ungrateful madam, he became a PhD hopeful. Unknown to his liberators,  he was not really interested in academics, rather, how to exploit his foreign studentship to make money as is the unappreciative madam who would be forth with referred to as the ‘Woman from Saba.’ Fate worked out the meetings of minds as both the Woman and Man from Saba were able to see in each other, the congruence of ideals and personality traits. They also found in each other the off and on the pitch of Tiger Wood’s passion and compassion for gulf and heartily desires. Both took to each other by exchanging pleasantries, goodwill, reciprocated warmth, and of course, visitations. A reliable source, who is also an intimate of the ‘Man from Saba,’ once intervened to remind this man of what PhD requires. The ‘Man from Saba’ offered a number of reasons as to why the heart-to-heart friendship must be sustained with the ‘Woman from Saba.’ As reported, the most important of these, was to receive training from the ‘Woman from Saba’ on how student visas racketeering antics could be mastered. The confidant went as far as narrating how the ‘Man from Saba’ almost lured him to becoming a tutee of the ‘Woman from Saba’ as the financial benefits were simply irresistible. But, owing to a number of factors, the ‘Man from Saba’s’ temptation was resisted by this intimate of his, who chose to have his integrity unscathed and polluted by disengaging from a money spinning but blemishing activity.  

With the passage of time, the ‘Man from Saba’ received the certification to practise, so, he started his own mode of the recruitment business. Unlike his trainer, he chose to mainly operate within the perimeter of the religious community and to his edge, is a private school where prospective clients would obtain and submit what is known as facilitating/ processing forms. This looks more refined when compared with the crude approach of his trainer. He worked out different operational modules for his prospective clients, most of whom are interested in pursuing higher degrees. Also, this is unlike his trainer who recruits all manner of people by exploiting the student visa scheme. Like his trainer, he was commissioned as a certified agent by some cash cow schools, an agreement which fetches him $1000 for every student recruited through him. He also helps in securing admission into other schools where he is not commissioned as a student recruitment agent, but, for this service, he collects a processing fees of $600, charges another $150 for Student Entry Pass, a document which customarily comes with the admission offer. This amounts to $750. So, for helping others secure admissions which would ordinarily require less than $50, he charges $750, thus making a profit of $700. This is less the amount he collects for visa processing. In respect of those places where he is a certified recruiter, he makes a profit of $1650 for what was done for him free of charge. This is a man who on securing admission to study abroad got the help of some community fathers who contributed millions of naira to help in footing his expenses overseas. The same man has prioritized money making by swindling people through religious and organize means of depriving people of their hard earned money. 

The second sub-division which makes up the third categorization will be exemplified with the account of one Ibadan based scope man who runs a travelling agency. Like the Ijeshatedo based ‘Man from Saba,’ this man operates a cybercafé, which also serves as a base for traveling services. Akin to the ‘Man from Saba,’ this man is known to be active within some religious circles; therefore, people find it difficult to be doubtful and suspicious of him. Reminiscent of the ‘Man from Saba,’ he enjoys high patronage from those within his religious brotherhood, yet, many are those who patronize him based on other considerations. Unlike the Saba Man but akin to the ‘Woman from Saba,’ he secures student visas for those who have no business in the academia. Yet, it must be mentioned that he enjoys the patronage of some university graduates who are anxious to travel abroad. In fact, this mode of operation came to the knowing following a revelation by a state university graduate whom this man, Mr. Olubada by code name, arranged a travelling permit that was routed through Singapore to China. Mr. Olubada sweet-talked the guy who would be referred to as Mr. Diaspora about a begging opportunity in China. When lucky to grab one of these prospects, Mr. Olubada pronounced, one’s main responsibility would be to act as an English tutor for the Beijing Olympic bound Olympiads and event organizers. Mr. Diaspora was deceived to believe this was real, so, he parted with the processing fees required to land him a traveling permit. On reaching Singapore, the truth dawned on Mr. Diaspora as he realized that he had been misinformed and swindled. Somehow, he managed to smuggle himself to another neigbourig country where he had since started his postgraduate studies. A number of people who have fallen prey of this sort of deceit are trapped in places like Libya, Spain, Istanbul, Greece, Morocco but to mention a few. While many have lost their lives, another substantial percentage of them are living deads, and few, as it was with Mr. Diaspora, might be fortunate to sail through such debacle.  

The next categorization is unique for the corporatization of their recruitment activities. By corporatization, it means they either operate under a registered business name or by merely hosting and developing a website. It may also mean that either a football academy or an education consultancy outlet is opened as a recruitment outfit. Those whose operations are registered may go to the extent of organizing educational fairs which may feature some foreign schools. Exorbitant charges are levied on whoever solicits their help in travelling abroad. Most of the time, what they normally arrange for people, are student visas. There are known reports of individuals who have paid more than half a million to such outfits. Those who use the instrumentality of football academy, work on the psyche of people by deceiving them that they have links to some international football clubs’ scouting agents. At times, they work with some foreign based front men to arrange travelling permits, while on rare occasions, they operate individually, that is, without any foreign collaborator. There are a number of these football academies in Edo State. Those who have fallen prey of their antics include young and ambitious football stars as well as those who cannot kick anything. For the latter, on reaching their destinations, they do not waste time before finding their levels. In most instances, they end up as illegal migrants in foreign lands. They are often left with the choice of menial works, dubious activities and few, might be fortunate to be engaged in something that is productive and legitimate. However, with young football stars, under the illusion of joining clubs where they could pursue their football careers, they might spend years for a search that might not yield any positive result. It usually takes them a long while to realize that they are in the middle of the red sea. On realizing that there is nothing for them, most victims of this fraudulent operation often end up doing the ateke business. In respect of those who host and develop websites through which their activities are made known to wider audience, the genuineness which they claim is often fraught with the kind of proceeds which the ‘Man from Saba’ makes from a single individual. Most of those within this brace, upon whom this writer has conducted a careful investigation, often recruit into private schools, which in objective estimation, cannot be regarded as places of learning. Most of these schools issue certificate in the name of a parent-institutions which is located in the UK or elsewhere. The dearth of quality learning and teaching, non-worthiness of the available lecturers as materials of higher places of learning and the non-insistence on the academic code of ethics and integrity are among the grave challenges facing such places of learning. So, why should any decent fellow elk a living through this stomach-turning means.

The last grouping represents those who ply their recruitment trade under the guise of community service. Most of those involved in doing this are from the educationally disadvantaged states in the northern and southern part of Nigeria. To do this, one, the recruiting agent need be a native of any of the educationally disadvantaged states and two, must have been doing one or two things abroad. The first condition strongly enhances the recruiter’s chances of success as much as the second provides reinforcement, because as a son of the soil that is resident abroad, suspicion of fraud is often difficult to conceive. Also, opening the channel for members of such communities to travel abroad is often seen as an opportunity to better the lots of the affected communities.  There are certain aspects of the operational leverage which recruiters of this sort use in selling the travelling abroad dummy to their fellow town men. In spite of coughing out huge amount of money to secure travelling permits, the families of the recruited are known to forever shower their appreciations on their children’s saviuors. In this situation, community prominence, or better put, enhanced social status in one’s locality adds to the monetary benefits of the recruiting agent. There was a particular person who is involved in this who narrated how he has become some famous in his village as a result of this. The man who collects $1000 as admission commission from some cash cow schools is so trusted by the parents of the recruited, that he has been appointed the custodian of these students. Unfortunately, these children are enrolled in glorified secondary schools which are ground standing as higher places of learning issuing UK and American based schools’ certificates. The particular recruiter who narrated his personal experience has amassed what he considered stunning wealth and garnered the popularity which he felt could be exploited in seeking political appointment or elective post back home.  

The various accounts of the recruiters and the recruited instanced so far, are aimed at exposing some sorts of atrocities and dummies that have been devised by fellow Nigerians to hoodwink one another, earn indecent and dubious living, and rub people of their hard earned money all in the name of providing services that cannot pass the test of ethical considerations.

In reading this piece, it is expected that many would be sensitized and therefore be saved from falling prey of racketeers. Admission seekers can relate with our country’s Embassies and High Commissions in different parts of the world to ascertain the status of the schools they are interested in and how they can have their admission processed. The assistance of the various chapters of the Nigerians in the Diaspora Organization (NIDO) can also be sought. Relying on recruitment agency is one sure means that most probably, would lead to the waste and abuse of the little meager resources at ones disposal.  To save self the agony and trauma of dupes, benefit yourself of the stories of the recruiters and the recruited so far instanced. 

The author, Mr. Adebiyi Jelili Abudugana, a former UNILAG student leader can be reached through abudugana2000@ yahoo.com

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