[Mhiz Rebecca]

Nigeria’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Muhammadu
Modibbo has urged the federal government to ban
unemployed Nigerians from traveling to the country in
search of jobs, to save Nigeria’s image.
Modibbo made the appeal in an interview with the
News Agency of Nigeria in Makkah, Saudi Arabia
saying ”I have sent a letter through the Foreign Affairs
Ministry for government to ban such people from
coming here (Saudi) because they are suffering. I am
also appealing to Nigerians to try as much as possible
to get something doing in Nigeria instead of coming
here because it is not easy. Thousands of people from
various countries have left here”.
He said that the embassy was also concerned about
the increasing cases of women working as maids that
are being abused, and some unscrupulous Nigerians
involved in drug trafficking.
According to him, the embassy has been intervening in
cases of drug pushing by some Nigerians, adding
“there are many Nigerians on death row for the
offence. There are many cases before I assumed office
eight months ago; I always intervene but there is not
much I can do even though we have some little
successes. Many of them have been here for many
years working and will not return home but if they are
arrested, they are deported instantly.”
He blamed some agents for the woes of many
Nigerians working in Saudi companies and other
organisations. “The agents manage to get passports
and Visa for their clients and when they have
problems, they come to the embassy daily. Some
countries have banned their citizens from coming to
work here because of problems being faced in Saudi
Arabia. So why are Nigerians coming to face these
hardships.”