Nigerian recruits in UK Prison Service struggle with housing, sleep in cars

Many Nigerians who have travelled to the United Kingdom to work for the UK Prison Service are battling housing challenges, with many sleeping in cars or camping grounds.

Recently, the UK Prison Service began offering skilled visas to citizens of other countries interested in working for them as a move to overcome its staff shortage.

While being optimistic that the Prison Service would provide accommodation for them, many Nigerians hopped on the application and got the job.

A news report by The Telegraph, a UK-based newspaper, revealed that 250 foreign nationals, including Nigerians, have been sponsored to work in the Prison Service after passing through their Zoom interviews and vetting.

They, however, met a harsh reality when they assumed duties in the UK.

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The president of the Prison Officers Association, Mark Fairhurst, told the newspaper that one of the foreign nationals who was recently recruited was commuting 70 miles from Huddersfield to

Nottingham for work but eventually resorted to sleeping in his car outside the prison because it was “cheaper” to do so.

He added that some new recruits of foreign descent arrived at the prison with their families and requested accommodation from the prison staff.

With no fewer than three million Nigerians migrating in the past three years, Nigeria is experiencing a tidal wave of migration as a result of the country’s poor economic condition, which has exacerbated poverty and poor living conditions for many.

Many Nigerians are leaving their jobs and families for other countries, including the United Kingdom, in search of greener pastures.