2.2.6. Men victims of trafficking
Domestically, Nigerian men, including teenagers, are exploited in illegal mining196 and forced labour.197 In March 2025, Nigerian police arrested 130 people, including 113 foreign nationals, for alleged involvement in cyber-scams, like online casino and investment fraud. Nigerian authorities reported that some individuals working in these scam centres may also be victims of human trafficking, forced or coerced into criminal activities.198 In April 2025, Nigerian authorities repatriated 231 young Nigerians, mostly men, from Ghana who had been rescued from a human trafficking network involved in cybercrime. Ghanaian authorities uncovered 219 victims confined in 25 rooms within a residential estate in Accra, where they were allegedly forced to work under coercive and abusive conditions. Some victims showed signs of physical abuse, with reports of beatings and injuries linked to failure to meet financial targets. The trafficking ring had reportedly lured the victims with false job offers.199
In parts of Africa, including Nigeria, young aspiring footballers200 often pursue international opportunities as a means of escaping poverty, unemployment, and political instability. Young men are approached by traffickers posing as agents or scouts who promise professional contracts with football clubs in Europe. Victims are requested to make a payment before their journey, only to discover they have been deceived and must take up low-paying jobs, including cleaning or hospitality, once overseas.201
Recruitment and trafficking of Nigerian men has continued, particularly into Libya for labour exploitation.202 Nigerian men, especially from Edo State, are systematically exploited in Libya through forced labour, extortion, and even sexual violence. Driven by poverty, social pressure, and poor livelihoods, some Nigerian men become both victims and participants in the trafficking economy as some are drawn into smuggling activities as a survival strategy.203
- 196
Vanguard, How illegal miners wreak havoc on Nigeria — Investigation, 17 February 2024, url
- 197
ILO, Forced Labour in Nigeria - At a glance, April 2024, url
- 198
INTERPOL, More than 300 arrests as African countries clamp down on cyber threats, 24 March 2025, url
- 199
Punch, Over 200 trafficked Nigerians in Ghana to return Friday, 24 April 2025, url
- 200
Sports and Crime Briefing, Fake Agents Traffic Thousands of Players from Africa a Year – Super – Agent Speaks Out, 16 January 2025, url; Info Migrants, Africa’s young soccer players exploited, abandoned to their fate in Spain, 25 April 2024, url
- 201
New Lines Magazine, They Dreamed of Making It Big in Soccer. They Were Trafficked Instead, 9 October 2024, url
- 202
Adeyinka S., online interview with EUAA, 16 July 2025
- 203
Chatham House, Tracing the ‘continuum of violence’ between Nigeria and Libya, 5 August 2024, url