Investigative journalist Fisayo Soyombo completed a 47-day undercover journey from Kano through the Niger Republic to Tripoli, exposing a brutal trans-Saharan smuggling network where migrants face violence, starvation, and conditions resembling the mid-20th-century slave trade.
The arduous journey across the Sahara Desert continues to entrap thousands of hopeful young people despite well-documented hazards. Fisayo Soyombo, founder and editor-in-chief of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism, undertook the 47-day trek from Nigeria through the Republic of Niger and across the desert to Tripoli to document the realities of irregular migration.
Many perish in the desert or the Mediterranean Sea, while others find themselves stranded, exploited, or unable to reach Europe.
IN FULLMy conversation with @ARISEtv on the modern-day slavery going on in the Sahara in the name of migration to Europe.https://t.co/KJtuZbzqnC
— https://x.com/fisayosoyombo/status/2104180478458859847
The 47-Day Undercover Ordeal from Kano to Tripoli
Soyombo’s trek exposed a migration industry built on deception and coercion.
During the expedition, travelers encountered extreme deprivation. In one instance detailed by the reporting network, eight people were crammed into a minibus originally used to transport chickens, with cages occupying much of the vehicle.
The physical toll proved severe. Soyombo described the trek between Al Gatrun and Sabha as the most difficult moment of the trip, undertaken on foot after drivers forced migrants out to bypass police checkpoints that could not be bribed with illicit payments.
The trans-Saharan slave trade that most people say ended in the mid-20th century is still going on just in another form inside the Sahara Desert.
Fisayo Soyombo, investigative journalist
Systemic Drivers and Warnings Against Irregular Migration
People are dying in the desert every day. People are fainting. People are losing weight. People are starving. People are shrinking because they embark on a journey they have no business with in the first place.
Fisayo Soyombo, investigative journalist
Rather than attempting dangerous desert crossings or hazardous voyages across the Mediterranean, Soyombo advises frustrated youths to pursue legal avenues of relocation by securing proper visas and traveling via commercial flights.
I had absolutely no doubt that putting myself through the horror of journeying through the Sahara Desert would save some lives from wasting away in the deserts of Libya and Niger.One more life that could have perished in the deserts now currently on a safe return home.To God… pic.twitter.com/raxSKSYMlS
— https://x.com/fisayosoyombo/status/2113213639511457891
To reach vulnerable populations with limited literacy, the investigation’s findings are being expanded beyond written articles into multimedia formats, including video campaigns released over a period of 10 days in English and Pidgin, with a next phase planned in Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba.
More on Fisayo Soyombo
I spent 47 days as one of several thousand African migrants seeking to enter Europe through the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea.Story on @fijnigeria tomorrow, Thursday and on Friday. pic.twitter.com/OTgvjmWNgL
— https://x.com/fisayosoyombo/status/2102282299760902153