Stranded in CAR

July 29, 2025 by Hardball

Nothing showed the inherent hazard of ‘japa’ syndrome like the experience of some Nigerian miners taken to the Central African Republic (CAR) allegedly by a Nigerian-based Chinese firm and abandoned there. The young men were dumped in the middle of a remote jungle by their sponsors to that country, denied salaries by which they could have struggled to survive, and had their Nigerian passports seized so they couldn’t attempt tracing their way back home. In short, they were written off as doomed to die in foreign isolation.

Modern technology and a streak of insight on what to do were the saving grace. In a save-our-soul video they recorded and sent out, which went viral, the fellas narrated how they’ve been in CAR for 10 months and have worked for much of the time without being paid. According to them, they arrived in CAR in September, last year, and were arrested by that country’s government held in detention at the capital city, Bangui, for about four months. When eventually they got released, they were taken to a remote forest where they worked but without getting paid. They named names, alleging that officials of the sponsoring firm had abandoned them and were no longer taking their calls. In summary, they were trafficked under false pretence, forced to work without pay, abandoned in CAR and without access to their personal passports that could have allowed them make individual attempt at returning home.

Luckily for them, the video caught the attention of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM). The commission, in a statement, said it had established contact with the distressed Nigerians and gotten the Nigerian embassy in CAR involved, with their confiscated passports already retrieved and arrangements being made to send a bus to convey them to the embassy in Bangui. NiDCOM also confirmed that the agent who facilitated their travel had been identified.

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The Chinese embassy in Nigeria weighed in, saying it was probing the report. “The Chinese government consistently mandates that all Chinese enterprises and citizens operating abroad strictly comply with local laws and regulations, ensuring all business operations fully adhere to local legal frameworks,” it said, adding that it would “maintain close communication with Nigerian authorities throughout the investigation and work together to safeguard the lawful rights and interests of citizens of both nations.”

It shouldn’t be too difficult for the probes by Nigerian and Chinese authorities to unmask the facilitators of the racket. Those young men were damnably gullible and were only lucky to be alive where they could have been wasted as undocumented foreigners engaged in illegal mining in another country. But their fate also raises questions about Nigerian oversight. If the Chinese firm is registered to operate in Nigeria, is it also registered to export Nigerians as cheap labour to another country? And how come the labour export went unnoticed in its Nigerian operations for close to a year – that is, until the trafficked miners cried out? Questions…