There’s No Human Trafficking In Lebanon – Ambassador Debunks Claim Of Illegal Migration

Houssam Diab, Lebanese Ambassador to Nigeria, has debunked claims of illegal migration of Nigerian ladies into Lebanon.

Diab who met with Geoffrey Onyeama, Minister of Foreign Affairs, in Abuja on Friday, explained that most of the migrant ladies entered Lebanon legally.

He said the Middle East country had stopped issuing visa for domestic workers coming from Nigeria since May in order to stem illegal migration.

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

“This will stop any new cases from arising; they will not be able to get into Lebanon. The specificity for the issue in 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 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.”

On his part, Onyeama expressed his appreciation to the Lebanese government as well as the its community in Nigeria for their efforts in facilitating the return of the stranded Nigerian girls.

He stated that the temporary ban on visa issuance will give Nigeria time to review the whole situation and to ensure that they get the labour laws in place.

“As we battle with the strong involvement of the Embassy in Beirut, the immediate challenge was to repatriate these girls, and we would like to offer our profound gratitude to the Lebanese community for their efforts to make available resources to bring these girls back and bring them back fairly quickly,” said the Minister.

“We appreciate that enormously because it was a challenge to bring them back.

“The resources were not there, and you, very kindly, have stepped in, and that shows we have a long history between Nigeria and Lebanese communities.”