The Senator representing Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration to take urgent action to repatriate Nigerian women and their children currently detained in Libyan prisons, describing their continued incarceration as a “national shame” and a “gross violation of human rights.”
Akpoti-Uduaghan made the call during Tuesday’s Senate plenary while moving an additional prayer to a motion sponsored by Senator Etim Bassey Aniekan (Akwa Ibom North-East), titled “Urgent Need to Protect Nigerians from Trafficking, Slavery, and Human Rights Abuses in Libya.”
The motion highlighted the growing number of Nigerians subjected to torture, sexual violence, forced labour, and modern-day slavery in Libya. In her contribution, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan drew particular attention to the plight of Nigerian women who were impregnated and forced to give birth while incarcerated in Libyan prisons.
“On this motion, I made an additional prayer that the Nigerian Immigration and Nigerian Prison Services should liaise with the Libyan Prison Services in a bid to repatriate Nigerian female prisoners and their children who were born in the Libyan prisons,” Akpoti-Uduaghan said.
She further explained that many of the women languishing in Libyan prisons were former sex slaves who had escaped trafficking rings, only to face further abuse in detention.
“Many Nigerian women in Libyan prisons were sex slaves who escaped trafficking captivity, and while in prisons, were subjected to sexual assault by the prison staff. A large number of these women were impregnated, birthed babies in prison, and live there with their children. These innocent children are of Nigerian descent and shouldn’t be made to suffer,” she said.
Her prayer received support from the Leader of the Senate, Opeyemi Bamidele, and was adopted by the chamber.
The motion painted a disturbing picture of the ongoing humanitarian crisis facing Nigerians trapped in the North African country. Senator Aniekan revealed that irregular migration through Libya has become one of the deadliest migration routes, exposing thousands of Nigerians to trafficking syndicates, kidnappers, and state-backed human rights abuses.
According to the motion, nearly 1,000 Nigerians were repatriated from Libya in the first quarter of 2025 alone, with survivors recounting harrowing experiences of forced detention, torture, sexual abuse, and organ exploitation.
The Senate also referenced the chilling testimony of Mercy Olugbenga, a young Nigerian woman who sold her family’s property and dropped out of university to travel to Libya. She was reportedly held captive for over a year, during which her blood was forcibly drained multiple times by her abductors.
“An incident that underscores the brutality of the crisis,” the motion stated.
Citing reports from Amnesty International and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), lawmakers noted that migrants in Libyan detention centres continue to face arbitrary detention, rape, forced labour, and extrajudicial killings.
The Senate expressed deep concern that the continued abuse of Nigerians in Libya not only tarnishes Nigeria’s international image but also erodes public trust in the government’s ability to safeguard its citizens abroad.
Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan emphasized that, as a signatory to several international conventions — including the Palermo Protocol, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime — Nigeria has both a moral and legal obligation to intervene.