“I Ran from Sleeping with Men in Nigeria to Sleeping with Animals in Libya” – Trafficking Survivor

A young Nigerian woman, a university graduate, has shared a harrowing account of how she was deceived into human trafficking and forced into prostitution in Libya. After years of struggling to find a job in Nigeria, she was lured by the promise of a better life abroad, only to end up in a cycle of abuse, violence, and inhumane treatment.

Speaking with Vanguard, the Libya returnee, whose name has been withheld for security reasons, narrated how desperation led her to take a dangerous journey that nearly cost her life. A graduate of Economics from a Nigerian state university, she had high hopes of securing a decent job after completing the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) five years ago. However, the reality of unemployment soon set in. Despite her degree, she struggled to find any form of stable work—no interviews, no part-time opportunities, and no teaching positions.

“The job market was brutal,” she said. “Thousands of people competing for a few vacancies. I tried hairdressing, dressmaking, even teaching, but nothing worked. Even where there were opportunities, some men wanted sex in exchange for help. I refused. I thought I had principles.”

When a man she had met during her job search suggested that she could find work in Libya, with the possibility of eventually moving to Spain, she saw it as a lifeline. “He told me I could start as a maid and work my way up. I thought, being a maid in Spain is better than being a maid in Nigeria. I could send money home. I agreed,” she recounted. Encouraged by family members who also believed this was a chance for her to escape joblessness, she raised about ₦300,000 to cover travel expenses. She handed part of the money to the agent who facilitated the trip and kept the rest for the journey.

What she imagined as a straightforward trip turned into a near-death experience. From Kano to Agadez in Niger Republic, she traveled through the Sahara Desert, where she witnessed horrors she could never have imagined. “I saw human skeletons—people who didn’t make it. Some died from thirst, others from exhaustion. I thought I was going mad,” she said.

Surviving the journey to Libya only led her into an even darker reality. Upon arrival in Libya, she was immediately taken to a house, where a Libyan woman informed her and six other girls that they were now her property. The truth hit hard—she had been trafficked into prostitution. “We were told to strip. I was still trying to catch my breath from the journey, still thirsty, still hungry, and they were already preparing us for men,” she said, shaking her head.

Her first night, she was given food and water, but the following day, she was forced into work—sex work. “I had refused to sleep with men for jobs in Nigeria, but here I was, forced to sleep with men as my job in Libya. It was brutal. Some days, it was 20 or 25 men. I was in pain, bleeding, and madam didn’t care. The men did whatever they wanted—beating, slapping, spitting, even urinating on us. We weren’t human to them. We were animals.”

All the money she earned was taken by the brothel owner. There was no escape. If anyone tried, they were beaten or killed. After enduring two years of unimaginable suffering, she lost all hope. “I was just existing, not living. I stopped fighting. I stopped crying. I just lay there and let it happen. Death would have been a relief,” she admitted. Some of the other girls still held on to dreams of making it to Spain or Italy. They believed anything was better than returning to Nigeria. But for her, the only goal was survival.

Salvation came when Nigerian officials arrived in Libya, offering to help victims of trafficking return home. When she heard the news, she ran toward the officials, desperate for freedom. “I didn’t care how or where—I just wanted out. I ran after the boy who brought the news, asking where the Nigerian people were. I was ready to go home.”

Now back in Nigeria, she is grateful to be alive but deeply scarred by her experience. “I thought Libya was my ticket to a better life. But it was hell. If I had known, I would never have gone.”