Most Nigerian girls in Lebanon weren’t smuggled

Lebanese Ambassador to Nigeria, Houssam Diab has said that majority of the Nigerian girls in Lebanon were not smuggled into the country.

He said that they got into the country legally when he paid a visit to the Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama in Abuja on Friday, 14th August 2020.

He revealed that the Nigerian ladies who recently cried out for help from Lebanon did so because they could no longer be paid by their employees as a result of the recent economic downturn.

He added that the suspension of the issuance of visas to domestic workers since May had also contributed to the situation. The Ambassador said,

“As of May 1, the Lebanese government has stopped issuing visas for domestic workers coming from Nigeria.

This will definitely stop any new cases from arising; they will not be able to get into Lebanon, the specificity for the issue at Lebanon is that all these girls are entering into Lebanon legally.

There is no human trafficking illegally into Lebanon.

About 90 per cent of the agencies involved in it are Nigerian agencies and they apply through Lebanese agencies in Lebanon through the security general to acquire work visas and work permits for the ladies.

This is how it is; so by stopping the issuing of the visas, we would have stopped new cases from arising.”

He stated that the Lebanese government and the Nigerian government has successfully evacuated 500 Nigerian ladies from Lebanon with 200 more to be evacuated soonest.