A Country At War, Yet Recruiting Young African Women As Silent Partners

Since 2023, Nigerian social media feeds and even some government-linked portals promoted the Alabuga Start program, an initiative that promised young African women scholarships, high-paying jobs, and a chance to build careers in engineering and hospitality. The promotional videos showed smiling Black women in lab coats, working in what appeared to be a cutting-edge industrial facility.

What the ads didn’t show was the truth: the facility was the Alabuga drone factory in Russia’s Tatarstan region, a place now under international sanctions for mass-producing the Shahed attack drones that have terrorized Ukrainian cities.

And the young women who answered the call didn’t end up as engineers.

They ended up as laborers in a war machine.

The Trap

Multiple investigations, by outlets like The Associated Press, BBC Africa Eye, and VOA have since uncovered the grim reality of the Alabuga Start program. Internal documents reveal that hundreds of young African women, many from Nigeria, were recruited under false pretenses, flown to Russia, and then forced into factory work under conditions that experts describe as modern-day indentured servitude.

• Passports confiscated upon arrival.
• Wages withheld under the guise of “repaying” travel costs.
• Threats of deportation for those who complained.
• Hazardous working conditions, with exposure to chemicals and no protective gear.

Most disturbingly, leaked communications show that Russian supervisors referred to African workers in derogatory terms and racially segregated assembly lines—a revelation that has sparked outrage back in Nigeria.

Nigeria’s Uncomfortable Role

The most damning part? Nigeria’s government promoted this.

Despite Alabuga being a known hub for military drone production, Nigerian agencies, including the Ministry of Education, listed Alabuga Start as a legitimate “study-work” opportunity as recently as late 2023.

How did no one in government ask what these young women would actually be doing in Russia?, I ask. “Either this was gross negligence, or someone was paid to look the other way.”

The Russian Embassy in Nigeria has denied wrongdoing, calling reports of exploitation “Western propaganda.” But with at least three African governments now investigating the program, the excuses are wearing thin.

A Factory Built on Lies—And Expanding Fast

Satellite imagery reveals that Alabuga is growing at a breakneck pace. New dormitories, production halls, and worker housing have sprouted across the complex since early 2024, suggesting Russia is preparing to scale up drone production dramatically.

And who will build these drones?

• More African women, still being recruited under false pretenses.

• Russian teenagers, drafted straight out of school in a chilling echo of Soviet-era child labor.

“They’re not just exploiting Africans; they’re exploiting their own children,” said a Ukrainian intelligence official who monitors the site. “This is how desperate Russia has become.”

The Real Cost

Every Shahed drone that crashes into a Ukrainian apartment block carries an invisible weight—the hands that assembled it.

Were they the hands of a 19-year-old Nigerian girl who thought she was signing up for a better life?

A 16-year-old Russian schoolboy told it was his “patriotic duty”?

We may never know for sure.

But one thing is clear: A country at war is dragging the world’s most vulnerable into its shadow.

And the world is barely paying attention.

What Now?

• Nigeria must investigate its role in promoting Alabuga Start.

• African governments must demand answers from Moscow.

• The international community must tighten sanctions on companies involved in trafficking labor for military production.

This isn’t just a story about drones.

It’s about how war corrupts everything it touches—even the hopes of young women halfway across the world.

And it’s happening right now.