Lebanese Ambassador to Nigeria Houssam Diab on Friday, August 14, stated that most Nigerian girls in Lebanon were not trafficked but entered the country legally.
Diab who said this during a visit to the Foreign Affairs Minister Geoffrey Onyeama in Abuja, further stated that the Nigerian ladies who recently cried out for help from Lebanon did so because they could no longer be paid by their employees as a result of the recent economic downturn.
The Ambassador said “As of May 1, the Lebanese government has stopped issuing visas for domestic workers coming from Nigeria. This will definitely stop any new cases from arising; they will not be able to get into Lebanon, the specificity for the issue at 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 is Nigerian agencies and they apply through Lebanese agencies in Lebanon through the security general 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.”