OK, whose safari is this?????

By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics and access other forums reserved for members. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today by clicking here.

419Eater is my life Joined: 11 Apr 2005 Posts: 365

Posted over at Nairaland....

Quote:

Spending A Million Naira To Find Yourself Stranded In A Wrong Country
� on: June 10, 2007, 06:47 PM �

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I do not hold grudges against anyone, and i'm not a trouble maker, my intentions were to hinder unfair moves to dupe or scam people who want to travel: i know many people who have lost great deal of money to travel fraudsters, or that have been deceived to travel to places where they are frustrated and in desperate need to return to Nigeria empty handed: A childhood pal of mine is a victim, he lost more than a million Naira only to find himself in a place like Bahrain, a tiny island in the Persian gulf/east of Saudi Arabia, north of Qatar (the country is so tiny that you can barely see it in the middle east map except if zoomable).
Of course he was deceived to believe that there is a greener pasture for him once he gets there. To make things even worse, his poor family celebrated his travel success. Thus feeling the weight of the shame to return to Nigeria empty handed, he overstayed his visa and his returned ticket. He called me several times for help, i could only send him some money, but that wasn't what he wanted, he expected i could help him get to Europe from there. But that was absolutely impossible since he hadn't a residence permit for Bahrain to enable him apply for a visa from there, and worst still, his visa had expired: The desperate guy had other suggestions, he thought he could "vanish" into other countries closer to Europe and then, he would cross over. As you can see in the map bellow, Bahrain shares no border with any country.
It was difficult to persuade him to return to Nigeria and take other safe means for Europe. At this time, i had no choice than to warn him that his plans was as risky as trying to swim across some crocodile infested rivers and that i wasn't going to send him further money except for his ticket to go back home.
When i said "crocodile infested rivers", i wasn't referring to the sea itself, i was actually referring to the land-border crossing, first of all, there are countless number of forgotten or abandoned, or even undetected land mines at various border sides of the middle east; also, you all know how much we fear Arab people in terms of kidnap and other terrifying activities. So, i don't think it's an ideal to trespass their borders especially for someone with a name like Christopher.
I eventually had to buy his ticket myself because i feared he would use the money to substain himself (as he had been doing) and that would make him stay longer in Bahrain with the pressure on me.
He's now back in Nigeria, but he's yet to recover from his ordeal. His terrible experience is not something anybody would like to pass through.
My outspoken spirit has earned me some negative responses and people have called me names and insulted my personality, but who am i not to expect insult? Well, nobody (they say) is perfect, i'm a nobody just one other user of this versatile forum.
I want to use this opportunity to make it clear that i'm not against anybody who's doing his business, whether you're a Travel Agent, Helper, Consultant or Tout, i just wish that in any condition, you guys should explain the true circumstance of the situations in the destination countries.
I however wish to apologies to anyone who personally took offence at my posts as they weren't intended to hurt or offend anyone.
Long live Nairaland!

Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 3:46 am

He went to Bahrain? Perhaps he was duped by the exiled Michael Jackson.

Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 5:22 am

Quote:

I want to use this opportunity to make it clear that i'm not against anybody who's doing his business, whether you're a Travel Agent, Helper, Consultant or Tout, i just wish that in any condition, you guys should explain the true circumstance of the situations in the destination countries.

Paging jojo! Laughing

Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 5:28 am

This doesn't sound like a safari to me - I mean, who would get a lad to go from Nigeria to Bahrain, which, in many ways, is a far better place than Nigeria.
I think what the poster refers to is the sad fact that many unsuspecting job seekers from poorer countries (especially rural parts of India, Pakistan, Nepal, but possibly also Africa) are lured to Gulf countries with promises of high paying jobs.
Everybody knows that the Gulf is booming, be it Dubai, Qatar or Bahrain and many, who cannot find jobs at home, fall for false promises of "employment agents", sometimes paying lots of money upfront for visas, etc, only to find that no job exists or only some badly paid position rather than the dream job promised.
The nature of employment in the Gulf countries is such that, once you're here but haven't got a job and not enough money to go back, you're essentially stranded.
Often, these fraudulent employment agents keep the workers passports, thus making it even more difficult for an individual to return home.
The authorities do not really care whether somebody has been duped to coming here under false pretenses, so once a persons visa has expired and he/she has no company that sponsors his/her work visa, you're likely to be picked up as an illegal immigrant and thrown into jail.
There have been many cases here of workers who were asked to pay such high fees upfront that, on their low wages here, it would have taken them at least one year to repy the fees only.
This happens across all industries, but especially in construction. Bear in mind that the entire Gulf boom is build on cheap labour and that a construction workers earns about 80 Pounds Sterling or less per month here. Sad

Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 5:56 am

^^ Me too.

Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 12:43 pm

Luther Blissett wrote:

I mean, who would get a lad to go from Nigeria to Bahrain, which, in many ways, is a far better place than Nigeria.

While I agree with the rest of your comments Luther, one of our travel plans for our lad in Singapore was to send him to Dubai. We were trying to find a place that met two criteria. 1) the lad was unlikely to go to ground and 2) it was easy for a Nigerian to go there. Works out that 2 is pretty hard to find. We did send him to Singapore which is nicer that Nigeria or Dubai. Unless he overstays his visa. Which we are trying to get him to do. Twisted Evil

Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 5:52 pm

^^^ I give you that and for your purposes countries like Bahrain or even better Qatar or the UAE are ideal as it will be very difficult for a lad to hide.
The Nairaland posting, though, is still more likely to refer to a poster ripped off by a visa for upfront payment scam.
Luckily, many countries, e.g. Indonesia, are starting to act now and are looking to regulate the oversees employment of their people a bit better to avoid scam artists ripping them off.

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2007 9:18 pm

I agree that this has probably been the result of an employment or visa scam. However I couldn't avoid letting put a good chuckle when I read

Quote:

So, i don't think it's an ideal to trespass their borders especially for someone with a name like Christopher.

Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2007 5:31 am

^^^ Actually, having a "not obviously muslim" name, like Christopher, could probably be an advantage in this part of the world if he/she is picked up for overstaying his/her visa or getting into conflict with the law otherwise.
If you end up in prison here, it's always bad of course (if you don't know somebody outside to bring you bedding & food you have a problem), but it's twice as bad if the prison authorities find out that you're a Muslim. In this case, you'll probably receive "special treatment" in that, for men, they take away your shaving gear (growing a beard being the thing to do) and generally give you a hard time for what they deem to be "non-muslim" behaviour. Confused

OK, whose safari is this?????	View next topic View previous topic