When 31-year-old Benjamin Oloko left Ibadan for Russia in September 2025, he believed a breakthrough had come. A Facebook-linked recruitment agency had promised him a private security job paying $1,500 monthly and a $20,000 sign-up bonus, an offer that appeared to offer escape from Nigeria’s harsh economic realities.
To avoid being discouraged, Oloko kept his plans secret, borrowed money to process his visa and ticket, and arrived in Russia convinced that his struggles were over. But moments after landing, his passport and phone were taken, and he was handed over to agents who soon demanded more money before transferring him to a hotel.
It was there, among other Africans, that reality began to dawn. Conversations with fellow recruits revealed that the promised civilian jobs were a façade and that they were being prepared for military deployment. Calls to his agent confirmed the shift in narrative, from private security work to kitchen duties at a war camp, a claim his family warned him not to trust.
Within days, Oloko was moved to a military training facility and pressured to sign a contract. While others complied, he and another Nigerian refused, enduring threats before being forced to pay for their release. Even then, they were abandoned on a deserted road, robbed of their documents and left to find their way back to civilisation.
Oloko eventually returned to Nigeria after raising funds from home, but the fate of others haunted him. Two of the men who signed up reportedly died at the frontline, while another survived with severe injuries. He said the camp was filled with Africans, many wounded but compelled to continue training.
A similar ordeal was faced by Lagos-based mechanic Bankole Manchi, who was promised a well-paid security job in Russia. Instead, he found himself in a military camp with recruits from across the world, subjected to weapons training and later moved under cover of darkness to the Ukrainian frontline, where he was shot in the leg during combat.
Investigations suggest that syndicates are exploiting Africa’s unemployment crisis, advertising jobs in security, hospitality and logistics, only to detain recruits and coerce them into signing military contracts. Once enlisted, many are deployed to the most dangerous zones of the war.
International reports indicate heavy casualties on both sides of the conflict, with thousands of civilians killed and hundreds of thousands of soldiers wounded or dead. Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of recruiting foreign fighters through deception, describing such contracts as a “death sentence.”
The Nigerian government has repeatedly warned citizens against travelling to war zones for work, stressing that anyone who joins foreign armies does so at personal risk, as authorities may be unable to intervene once conflict realities take over.
Source: PUNCH NEWSPAPER
