How promise of foreign education lures Nigerian women into Russian war production

Putin

In the shadow of Russia’s war with Ukraine, a more insidious conflict is unfolding — one that places young Nigerian women at the centre of a 21st-century colonial exploitation scheme.

The manufacturing complex in Alabuga, Russia, appears unremarkable from the outside. Inside, however, lies evidence of how modern imperialism operates: dozens of young Nigerian women, alongside peers from other African nations, meticulously assembling components for suicide drones that will eventually rain destruction on Ukrainian cities.

These women didn’t travel thousands of miles to build weapons of war. They were promised education, opportunity, and generous salaries through Russia’s “Alabuga Start” programme—a recruitment initiative that has systematically targeted African youth with slick marketing campaigns and the veneer of official government endorsement.

“I thought I was going to study computer science,” recalls Amina (not her real name), a 23-year-old Nigerian who spent six months at Alabuga before escaping the programme.

“Instead, I spent 10 hours a day in factories handling chemicals and adhesives. The classrooms they showed in their videos? We went there maybe twice a week, if that.”

The deception runs deep. When Nigeria’s ambassador to Russia, Professor Abdullahi Shehu, toured the facility in 2023, he was shown a carefully curated version of the programme. “They cleaned everything and took us to special areas,” Amina explains. “The ambassador never saw where we actually worked or the military components.”

Russia’s targeting of Nigerian youth isn’t random—it’s strategic. Facing manpower shortages due to its prolonged conflict with Ukraine and western sanctions, Russia has turned to Africa’s young workforce as a solution.

The economic logic is straightforward: these young women represent affordable labour for Russia’s war machine. With promised monthly salaries of $7000—far above Nigeria’s minimum wage—the programme appears attractive to economically vulnerable youth. Yet participants report receiving only a fraction of their promised wages, if anything at all.