Nigeria’s youths are being lured into a war that’s not theirs

Russia is waging two wars: one in Ukraine and another on African dignity. What begins as a promise of work or school abroad is ending in drone factories and battlefields.

Young, desperate Africans are being lured into Russia’s war in Ukraine under false promises backed by diplomatic silence, with active recruitment ongoing in Lagos, Nairobi, and Johannesburg.  In recent months, mounting evidence shows that Russian intermediaries are exploiting young people in at least 15 African countries through fake job offers and study programs only to reroute them into war-related labor or combat, enabled by the negligent oversight of African state actors.

Nigeria, already battered by insecurity and migration crises, with over 70% of its population under 30 and chronically unemployed, has become a key target.

A ZAM Magazine investigation revealed Nigerian nationals are ending up in drone-manufacturing sites and military training camps deep inside Russia. Many were recruited through advertised work-study programs but coerced into enlistment after arrival.

Victims described being locked in compounds with armed guards and stripped of their passports.

A documented pattern of transnational trafficking is slowly unfolding across the continent. South African authorities have launched probes after a surge in online jobs and modeling scams targeting women.

Influencers were paid to promote fake vacancies, luring victims into labour camps. In Kenya, police intercepted the illegal smuggling of 20 citizens en route Russian war frontlines for combat roles. The Kenyan Foreign Ministry responded by demanding that Russia notify its embassy of any citizen held or recruited against their will.

Meanwhile, Nigeria, home to the largest Black youth population on earth, has remained largely silent. Many young citizens, trapped in poverty and ready to take risks if it means an escape, are being systematically targeted by Russian proxies and funneled into a machine of conscription and labor.

According to The Africa Report, some West African youths who made it to Russia described being “abandoned in forests,” or pushed into frontline combat with no training. ZAM investigations also indicate that high-ranking officials within the employment and foreign affairs ministries across many African countries are playing active roles in enabling these recruitment schemes by complicity or negligence.

Migrant exploitation is a global crisis, but shameful when African governments become the funnel. The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime has documented how migrant women, including Africans, were trapped in Russian military-industrial sites producing drones.

In Ghana, abandoned fighters have begged for rescue after being abandoned without pay or travel documents.

Some claim, “They signed up willingly.” But when passports are seized, and contracts are misrepresented, consent becomes coercion and organized exploitation.

If Nigeria wants to avoid being remembered as a recruitment hub for foreign wars, the government must urgently audit all outbound job and study schemes and criminalize intermediaries facilitating fake recruitment schemes.

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) must classify these cases as cross-border trafficking and create protective systems for victims.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs must coordinate with partners and issue a formal travel advisory for citizens, especially young people, flagging vague offers linked to Russia. A silent pipeline from Lagos to Luhansk cannot be Nigeria’s foreign policy legacy.

The African Union must also act by demanding accountability. Governments must stop outsourcing their unemployed and young people to war zones and start building jobs at home. If young Africans, who are the future of the continent are gambling with death to earn a wage, then development has failed them.

War, repackaged as opportunity, is still war. We are not the foot soldiers of Russia’s war against Ukraine and Africa’s youth are not surplus bodies for foreign conflicts. It’s 2025. African lives are not expendable.

Rinu Oduala, an activist, wrote from Lagos

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