Hundreds of Nigerians in Russia for the World Cup face risk of jail term

T.A

Several hundred Nigerians are reported stranded in Russia after running out of funds. The Nigerians who had travelled to Russia using the government issued Fan ID for the Fifa World Cup to secure a Russian Visa at the port of Entry with hope of possibly getting a job and raise some money met a socialist economy that has made it nearly impossible for people without a work permit to find a job due to government control of the economy and businesses hence, they ran out of funds to finance their stayin hostels initiated for fans for the period of the World Cup.
A lot of these Nigerians are said to have been sleeping at the Nigerian Embassy for a period of time now, and their cry for help to the Nigerian embassy to come to their aid as their Fan ID is going to expire on the 25th of July has been futile. The only help they have received so far has come from a Russian NGO (Alternative) but the main problem still remains how to return back home as many have had their tickets flushed by the agents who helped them in securing the visa, while some were scammed with a fake return ticket

One of the Nigerian victim of a scammed return ticket

As expected, the Russian government is expected to take swift immigration action immediately after the end of the World Cup, to flush and bring back to leveler the increase in population as a result of hosting the World Cup. The aftermath of this, is going to be largely to the detriment of a lot of Nigerians who don’t have a means of returning back home. The punishment for this is likely a jail term for a period of time before finally getting deported as the Russian Criminal Code stipulates punishment of up to five years in jail for any visitor who refuse to obey her immigration agreement.

Some of the Nigerians sleeping on the street