The Nigerian woman who was put up for sale on Facebook in Lebanon has refused to return home, and has instead negotiated a contract with another employer, according to the head of Nigeria’s diaspora commission.
The woman was listed for sale at $1,000. She was rescued by the Lebanese authorities and taken to the Nigerian embassy in Beirut.
The advert caused an outcry in Nigeria and the man suspected of involvement in the advert was arrested.
The 30-year-old woman now says she has found another job in Lebanon.
Commission head Abike Dabiri-Erewa has said she tried to convince to return home home but she refused.
“Even the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) of Oyo State, where she is from, spoke to her. We just hope that Nigerians going to work in Lebanon will be properly treated and not treated as slaves,” Ms Dabiri-Erewa said.
She said the Lebanese government had brought back 69 out of 79 Nigerians who were in Lebanon. The 69 are currently in quarantine.
In recent months, several African embassies in Lebanon have been overrun with migrant workers desperate to return home after the country’s debilitating economic crisis left many employers unable to pay wages in dollars, or cover salaries at all.
Lebanon, which hosts approximately 250,000 migrant domestic workers, uses the kafala system, a form of migration sponsorship which ties the legal residency of workers to their employment.
The system has been condemned frequently by human rights groups and activists as abusive. Activists have called for the system to be abolished, but despite horror stories and an estimated two deaths of workers per week – often suicide – the practice is still prevalent in Lebanon.
