A 37-year-old Nigerian woman has reportedly gone missing in Doha, Qatar, after arriving in the country from Lagos, prompting efforts by Nigerian authorities and her family to establish her whereabouts.
The woman travelled to Doha on Tuesday aboard Qatar Airways flight QR1408 and reportedly spoke with her brother on WhatsApp shortly before the aircraft landed. She has not been reachable since then.
The Punch reported that the Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection at the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, Michael Achimugu, said the airline had reviewed its CCTV footage and confirmed that the woman arrived safely at Hamad International Airport, collected her luggage and left the terminal.
Achimugu said, “I have confirmed, via the airline, that CCTV shows your sister arrived safely, picked her bags, and exited the terminal.”
He explained that the next step was to establish whether she made it to the hotel she had booked before travelling to Qatar.
According to him, the investigation had been slowed by public holidays, but further checks would determine whether she reached the hotel and, if so, whether she was transported there using the hotel’s designated pick-up vehicle.
Achimugu noted that every Qatar visa booking is linked to a specific hotel reservation, adding that Discover Qatar would verify the hotel details and establish whether the Nigerian woman checked in.
“In some cases, passengers arrive at the hotel booked, and then leave quietly. DISCOVER QATAR will check to confirm the name of her hotel, and whether your sister did, indeed, get to the hotel,” Achimugu said.
The NCAA official disclosed that the airline had also been alerted to concerns over possible human trafficking and forced labour.
He said confirmation from the hotel would determine the next steps, adding that authorities could begin a wider search if it was established that she never reached her accommodation.
“If she did not arrive at the hotel, a manhunt would ensue. It is easy to track people once they have arrived in Doha,” Achimugu said.
However, Achimugu clarified that the matter was outside his official responsibilities and that his involvement was to assist the woman’s family in locating her.
The woman’s brother, Jonathan Jibo, had raised the alarm on Friday through a post on X, saying he had been unable to contact his sister for more than 48 hours.
Jibo said it was her first trip to Doha and that she had no friends in the country. He added that her accommodation had been booked and paid for several months before her departure.
According to him, a person assigned to pick her up from the airport waited for her but could not find her, even though the airline had confirmed that she had collected her luggage.
Jibo also disclosed that his sister had worked at Lagos airport for nearly 12 years and was expected to begin work in Doha a few weeks after her arrival.
He wrote, “Till now I can’t reach her phone, online, I don’t even know what went wrong.”
He subsequently appealed to the Nigerian Embassy in Doha and other relevant authorities to assist the family in locating her.
In another update on Saturday, Jibo said information about his sister had been passed to the Nigerian President in Doha and subsequently forwarded to the Nigerian Embassy in Qatar.
The family is now awaiting an update from the embassy, which Jibo said was expected on Monday because the mission does not operate during weekends.
Meanwhile, checks are ongoing to determine whether the woman reached her booked hotel after leaving the airport and to establish what happened to her afterwards.
