My sponsor demanding N2.4m to free me from Egypt– Nigerian lady

A Nigerian lady, Emmanuella Omah, has alleged that her sponsor demanded N2.4m from her if she wanted to quit her job as a domestic worker in Egypt.

Omah said she had worked for more than 15 Egyptian employers in the last 12 months,. lamenting that they all maltreated her.

“I’m calling on Nigerians to help me because my sponsor made a statement that there was no one who would stop him from collecting his money. I’ve paid N2.6m from my work. So, it remains N2.4m. The travel expenses were N1.5m, but it is business for him,” Omah said.

Omah, who left Lagos in May 2025 to work as a domestic worker in Cairo, said she had suffered dehumanisation at the hands of her Egyptian employers.

Speaking to Diaspora Tales on Thursday, the 20-year-old said she was suffering from an ulcer as a result of not feeding well.

“I have worked for more than 15 Egyptians, mostly women, since I got here last year, but all I suffered from them were physical assault and verbal abuse, which have traumatised me,” she said.

Earlier in an interview with Saturday PUNCH, she narrated how three women maltreated and dehumanised her.

The last employer beat her after she fell from a ladder while cleaning chandeliers in the house.

She alleged that though she was taken to her supervisor’s house, she hardly had food to eat, depending on the little money her parents sent from Nigeria.

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“After I complained about the suffering from the last employer, my employer took me to another work, but I developed serious stomach pain because of an ulcer,” she added.

The lady left Nigeria for the North African country in May 2025, seeking greener pastures to alleviate her parents’ poverty.

She said her father’s friend introduced her family to a sponsor in Egypt to facilitate her travel.

“He said there were girls of my age who worked in different places and earned good pay in Egypt,” she said.

Following deliberations with her parents for weeks, Omah agreed to go to Egypt to work as a house help, but her expectations were dashed by the inhumane treatment she had endured.

Omah called on Nigerians and agencies to help her return to Nigeria, adding that her parents were worried.

“My parents are worried, and they have called the man to help me reduce the months and find easier work since he insisted that if I would go back, I must pay the exact amount of the months remaining,” she said.

She said the agreement was that she would work to pay all the travel expenses for one year and nine months, totaling N5m.