Allen Onyema to the Rescue, Again -By Zayd Ibn Isah

In times of trouble and despair, some people stand out for their willingness to help and provide solutions, not because they have to, but because they choose to. If there is one Nigerian who has consistently shown up when his compatriots are stranded in faraway countries, it is Allen Onyema. Over the years, he has used his airline, Air Peace, not just to fly passengers, but to render help to the helpless by bringing Nigerians back home in moments of crisis.

In 2019, when xenophobic attacks broke out in South Africa, many Nigerians were afraid and desperate to leave. While others looked away, Onyema sent an Air Peace plane to Johannesburg to bring them back, free of charge. It wasn’t just a kind gesture; it was a powerful statement that every Nigerian life matters—and that it is up to us to reaffirm that, especially in a world where everyone else looks out for themselves.

But Onyema didn’t just stop there. During the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022, when Nigerian students were stranded in war zones, Onyema again offered to fly them home without asking for anything in return. When war broke out in Sudan in 2023 and Nigerian students were stuck in the crossfire, it was Onyema again who offered help when it was needed most.

In 2024, reports emerged about Nigerians suffering in detention centers in Libya. These innocent Nigerians had fallen into that unfortunate situation while simply trying to migrate. Allen Onyema didn’t wait for the government to act or for the media to build pressure. He simply stepped in and promised to help bring them back safely.

More recently, a case was uncovered involving underage Nigerian girls trafficked to Côte d’Ivoire for sex and other dehumanising acts. Social activist Martins Otse, popularly known online as VeryDarkMan, brought it to light. Once again, Onyema came forward and pledged to fly the girls back home. Some people might say he’s doing it for publicity or to promote his brand. But even if that’s true, so what? How many other airline owners or business leaders are doing what he’s doing? If promoting your brand means saving lives and uniting a country, then maybe we need more of that.

Think about it: Allen, an Igbo man, is helping to rescue Nigerians, whether they’re Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, or from any other tribe. In a country often divided along ethnic and religious lines, this is the kind of action that restores hope. It shows that beyond our differences, we are one people.

He also supported the Super Eagles after their stellar performance at the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations in Côte d’Ivoire. When the team faced travel delays getting back home, Allen Onyema offered his plane to fly them back, at no cost. That small but meaningful gesture made the players feel like true heroes and gave millions of Nigerians something to smile about.

But the truth is, building a country is not the job of leaders alone. The people, those being led, must also play their part. You don’t have to be rich like Allen Onyema to make a difference. As 2Face Idibia once sang in Hold My Hand, his song for victims of insurgency in Borno: “Them say na one one drop of water dey create an ocean, Eh so make we join hands together to better our nation”. What this means is that little gestures such as a kind word, a shared meal, helping someone in need, reporting wrongdoing, and voting wisely, are the acts that ultimately matter in life.

Look around the world. In Japan, when there’s an earthquake, citizens are the first to show up with food, blankets, and hands to help. In the United States, during disasters like Hurricane Katrina, volunteers came from all over to rebuild homes and comfort strangers. In Ukraine today, ordinary people, farmers, teachers, students, are helping defend and rebuild their country in every way they can. These examples remind us that national progress is not just about leaders. It’s about citizens standing up when their country needs them most.

This is what President John F. Kennedy meant when he said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” But if you remind a typical Nigerian of this famous line from Kennedy’s 1961 inaugural speech, their likely response would be, “What has my country done for me?” (Laughs).

But let’s come to think of it: if Allen Onyema can do so much with what he has, imagine the impact if each one of us added just a little light to our corner. The Nigeria we dream of won’t be built by wishful thinking, nor will it be built by packing our bags and leaving the country with our wives and children, leaving other family members behind. Believe me, the Nigeria of our dreams can only be built by action, by people who care enough to show up when the chips are down.

Unfortunately, human trafficking has become a bane of our society, often made easier by desperate Nigerians seeking greener pastures abroad. Many fall for the trap as soon as they hear, “I want to take you abroad to work,” without bothering to ask what kind of job awaits them. It is only when they arrive that they realise the promised paradise is actually hell in disguise. Some ask questions, but even then, they are likely to ignore the red flags, either out of desperation or misplaced trust.

Often, it is vulnerable children, those abandoned on the streets or sent out to beg, who become easy targets for traffickers. When social activist VeryDarkMan visited the Director-General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), alongside human rights lawyer Deji Adeyanju, she expressed deep concern. According to her, many of the trafficked Nigerians the agency has rescued and brought back are quickly replaced by new victims trafficked out again. It is a vicious cycle.

Take Middle Eastern countries, for instance. According to the Chairman House Committee on Diaspora Affairs, Tolu Akande-Sodipe, over 80,000 Nigerian women are reportedly being held as sex slaves or forced labourers across the Middle East, particularly in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Oman. These women are often lured with promises of well-paying jobs, typically domestic or hospitality roles, and flown in with legal visas. However, their passports are seized on arrival, and they are subjected to abuse, long working hours, and sometimes physical and sexual violence.

One of the most heart-wrenching cases involved Gloria Bright, a Nigerian teacher who accepted what she thought was a $1,000/month teaching job in Lebanon. Instead, she was enslaved as a domestic worker and subjected to inhumane treatment. Her tearful video plea, shared online, moved many Nigerians and eventually led to her evacuation, just before the deadly Beirut port explosion in 2020. But Gloria was one of the few lucky ones. Many others remain trapped, invisible to the world, voiceless in their suffering.

Due to the mounting evidence of abuse, the Lebanese government suspended the issuance of work visas to Nigerians, while back home, arrests were made, including of Lebanese nationals living in Nigeria, in a bid to dismantle the trafficking networks. Sadly, even this hasn’t stopped the stream of new victims, because for every rescued woman, there’s another being deceived and exported like cargo.

It’s not only Nigerians, other African nationals, like Kenyans, face similar ordeals. BBC Africa Eye documented the story of Kenyan women trafficked to Gulf states where their passports were confiscated, and they were subjected to abuse, forced confinement, and hard labor. One woman described working for 21 hours a day with no rest, while others were physically assaulted and even sexually abused by their employers.

Some survivors managed to escape or were rescued with the help of NGOs or through government intervention, but thousands remain trapped, with limited support from host countries or their home governments.

These aren’t just statistics, they’re real people with hopes, dreams, and families. The point here is: rescue is noble, but prevention is critical. And this is where the Nigerian government, civil society, religious institutions, and everyday citizens must work together to educate, empower, and provide viable alternatives at home. We need to build a country that doesn’t push its daughters into the arms of traffickers under the weight of poverty and hopelessness.

I got firsthand knowledge of irregular migration and trafficking by reading Olusegun Adeniyi’s book, “Naked Abuse”. In fact, there are no better words to describe their harrowing experiences than those two: “naked abuse”. The problem is not just about rescue and return. It’s about prevention, awareness, and national responsibility. Until we address the root causes, poverty, neglect, misinformation, and weak enforcement, we will keep treating symptoms while the disease spreads.

And one needs to wonder: with all the atrocities we hear being committed in Libya, other African countries including Middle East, why do Nigerians still go they in droves, either to work or as a passage to Europe? Is Nigeria truly so difficult that one would prefer dying or being enslaved in another man’s land than living in their own country? I understand some people would say yes, and maybe they’re right. But you may never truly grasp what your compatriots go through on these perilous journeys until you experience it yourself.

It is not my wish or prayer for anyone, even my worst enemy, to undergo the harrowing experience of falling victim to any of the numerous hazards that make illegal migration a dangerous exercise. The prominent British-Somali poet, Warsan Shire, known for her powerful poems about migration and displacement, famously said: “No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark”—proving that whatever pushes people to leave their homes, is never something to be scoffed at or judged from a place of ease and privilege. However, it is always my fervent hope that if any Nigerian is ever caught in a sticky situation while trying to get to a better place, for themselves and for their loved ones—Almighty God would make ways, through the kindness of human hearts, for them to be easily rescued and brought back to safety.

What Allen Onyema has been telling us over and over again, by virtue of his actions, is that we are all we have in this country. And that as such, we should all look out for one another in all situations by giving help and keeping hope alive, by any means necessary. After all, it is just as 2Face Idibia intoned in the same song quoted earlier: “And if we get one lesson wey we don learn for this world, is greatness dey inside every person”.

Zayd Ibn Isah can be reached at lawcadet1@gmail.com