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Growing desperation among young Africans seeking opportunities abroad is fueling a dangerous cycle that leaves many vulnerable to exploitation, including alleged recruitment into foreign military conflicts, foreign policy and security experts have warned.
Professor of International Relations, Femi Otubanjo, said the unfolding reports of Africans, including Nigerians, ending up in military camps in Russia reflect a complex global pattern driven by economic hardship and long-standing international recruitment practices, reports The Guardian.
“It takes two to tango. So, you have to have a partnership for certain things to be achieved,” Otubanjo said, noting that stories of foreign job seekers being redirected into military service are not entirely new in global conflict dynamics.
He explained that while allegations of false recruitment persist, the underlying driver remains economic desperation, particularly across Africa where youth unemployment remains high.
“The reality is that we have to admit it too, there are a lot of Africans who are desperate to go anywhere,” he said.
According to him, with between 50 and 60 per cent of Africa’s population made up of young people, the lack of jobs continues to push many to take extreme risks in search of economic survival. He added that high exchange rates and the lure of earning foreign currency further encourage risky migration decisions.
Otubanjo also noted that the use of foreign fighters is historically embedded in global conflicts, even though countries rarely admit it publicly.
“No country wants to admit that it is using mercenaries because it wants to claim it has the capacity from its own citizenry,” he said.
Similarly, Senior Research Fellow at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Dr Nicholas Erameh, said claims of forced conscription require careful verification, stressing that the context of each case must be thoroughly investigated.
“It is difficult to say Russians came into Nigeria to pick people and forcefully conscript them into their armies,” Erameh said.
He explained that some individuals may have voluntarily entered agreements without fully understanding the implications, while others may have been misled through employment promises abroad.
Erameh said the federal government should consider establishing a fact-finding mission to determine the accuracy of the allegations and clarify whether Nigerians were truly coerced into military service or entered agreements knowingly.
“The best way is for the government to establish a fact-finding mission to test the veracity of the claims and counterclaims,” he said.
Concerns intensified following reports of Nigerians allegedly lured to Russia under false job promises before being forced into military service.
One of such cases involves Nigerian citizen, Abubakar Adamu, who has appealed to the Nigerian government for urgent repatriation after claiming he was deceived into joining the Russian military.
Adamu reportedly travelled to Moscow in late 2025 on a tourist visa issued by the Russian Embassy in Abuja, believing he had secured a civilian job as a security guard.
However, upon arrival, his travel documents were allegedly confiscated and he was forced to sign enlistment papers written in Russian without translation or interpretation.
He later discovered the documents had enlisted him into the Russian Armed Forces. Currently held in a Russian military camp, Adamu has reportedly refused deployment to combat zones in Ukraine, leaving him stranded in what sources described as a coercive and dangerous situation.
The case is part of a broader pattern involving African nationals from Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda, who have allegedly been lured abroad with promises of employment or education, only to be redirected into military service.
An investigative report by All Eyes on Wagner indicated that fewer than 36 Nigerians were reportedly recruited to fight in Russia’s war against Ukraine, with at least five confirmed dead.
The report, which analysed a database of 1,417 African recruits between 2023 and mid-2025, suggested that some foreign fighters were deployed in high-risk assault operations described as “cannon fodder.”
Further concerns emerged after Ukraine’s Defence Ministry on February 12, 2026 released photographs of two Nigerians, Hamzat Kazeem Kolawole and Mbah Stephen Udoka, who were reported to have died while fighting for Russia in Luhansk.
Kolawole reportedly signed a contract with the Russian military in August 2025, while Udoka enlisted in September the same year.
Both were said to have had no prior military training and died during an attempted assault on Ukrainian positions.
Meanwhile, the Russian Ambassador to Nigeria, Andrey Podyolyshev, last week denied claims that Moscow is recruiting Nigerians to fight in the conflict.
Speaking in Abuja, he said he was unaware of any government-backed programme targeting Nigerians and added that any verified cases would be investigated by Russian law enforcement authorities.
A Twitter user, now X, Kelechi Amasike, blamed poor governance and corruption for pushing young Nigerians to seek risky opportunities abroad.
“If only this country’s politicians weren’t stealing and looting the citizens blind why would a young man like Adamu with a potential bright future journey to Ukraine or Russia for work. Do you see anyone from UAE, Saudi Arabia, China or Singapore or Taiwan in Russia or Ukraine,” he tweeted?
