The Student Union Government of Abraham Adesanya Polytechnic, Ijebu Igbo, Ogun State, has launched a campaign to warn students of the institution, especially females, about a dangerous Russian recruitment scheme known as the Alabuga Start Program.
The program, which finds its victims on social media, promises free flights to Europe, big salaries and a chance to work abroad, all without any certificates or work experience.Smart Video
To apply, a young woman only needs to play a computer game and answer a few Russian vocabulary questions, but what lays in wait on the other side has nothing to do with the life the program advertises.
Many young women who went through the Alabuga Start Program have come back with a very different story.
Instead of the training and hospitality jobs they were promised, they ended up working inside a drone factory in Tatarstan, Russia, producing weapons being used in the war in Ukraine.
Public Relations Officer of the students union, John Orimisan, while speaking during the protest, said, “This is not a program that is far away from us, it is actively targeting our students, our sisters, our friends.
“We cannot fold our arms and watch young women walk into a trap dressed as opportunity.
“What they are calling a work-study programme is nothing but a 21st century human trafficking scheme.
“They use the language of empowerment to lure young women into a situation where they have no control, no protection, and no easy way out.”
The student union’s campaign is not limited to putting up notices around campus, members are going into lecture halls and hostels to explain the dangers of the Alabuga Start Program to the youth.
“We want every female student on this campus to hear this clearly, do not apply, do not share your details, and if anyone approaches you with this offer, report it immediately.
“For the male students, when you see your sisters excited about a foreign job offer they found online, ask questions. Knowledge is the only thing that can break the power of this kind of deception.
“No opportunity worth having requires you to disappear into a foreign country to build weapons for a war that is not yours. We will keep talking, keep sensitizing, and keep protecting our people,” Orimisan added.
The Alabuga Start Program has been widely condemned by human rights groups and international observers for deliberately going after young women from poor backgrounds in African countries like Nigeria, Rwanda, Kenya, South Sudan, Sierra Leone and Uganda, as well as Sri Lanka.
At the Abraham Adesanya Polytechnic, Ijebu Igbo, Ogun State, the campaign has gone beyond the school gates.
Earlier in the week, Comrade Joseph Daniel, a member of the Student Union Government, appeared on a local radio station to critically highlight the dangers of the fake recruitment scam.
Daniel also explained how the Alabuga Start Program recruits victims and what young people must do to protect themselves.
