From Victim Of Fake Employment Scheme To UAE’s First Female Delivery Rider. The Inspiring Story Of Gift Solomon

Gift Solomon, the first female food delivery rider in United Arab EMirates (Photo credit: Channels Television)

Gift Solomon is a lady who turned her lemon into lemonade. She does not only believes that humans can control their destinies but they can also live them. She came up with her plan to survive and thrive when the only option of survival failed her. Read on to know more about this Nigerian who does not give up without a fierce battle with life.

Gift Solomon’s Sojourn to Greatness

Gift Solomon who hails from Edo state is born into a family of six children. She is the fourth child of her struggling parents. They suffered a lot to place food on their table. This situation forced Gift to think of ways of alleviating her family’s predicament. Knowing that education can solve the problem, she went for a certification course offered by the National Institute of Information Technology, Nigeria. She went on to proceed for the National Open University of Nigeria in Business Administration.

Unfortunately while at 22, she was frustrated out of the institution due to inadequate financing. Due to her determination to succeed in life, she started romancing the idea of working abroad so that her family might benefit from the foreign exchange difference. However, due to her ignorance of what it takes to work abroad, she fell to scammers.

Employment Scam

At first, Gift Solomon was only looking at the prospect of living abroad and was too clouded with emotions that she did not think of the journey involved. From one inquiry to another, she fell into the hands of a Nigerian employment agent that promised to get her a job in Dubai. But there was a clause; she had to pay a whopping sum of four hundred and fifty thousand naira (approx. $1,096). With enthusiasm, she sought the money and paid in full to the agent.

Unfortunately, she was left stranded when she got to Dubai. Confused about what to do next, she succumbed to another agent, this time a Pakistani. This agent offered her employment on the premise that she would pay two thousand, five hundred United Arab Emirates dirham (approx. $680.6). Hoping that her unemployment problem would end if she sacrificed her last savings, she paid to the last dime expecting her salvation from the shackles of poverty. Again, it was a fraud.

Gift is also gifted with both talents and beauty (Photo credit: PM News Nigeria)
Gift Solomon looking nothing like her experience (Photo credit: PM News Nigeria)

How to recognize scammers

Due to massive unemployment and the quest for quick wealth, many people have fallen into the den of scammers. In all cases, the victims’ situation moves from bad to worse. No one intentionally wants to be scammed. So, how can you avoid scammers while making intelligent efforts to find greener pastures?

#1. Scammers prey on your desperation

The first guess is that these scammers know your intentions considering your google search and conversations with friends. Following that trend, they will come as a prospective organization that offers that dream job or destination. Be mindful that reputable organizations will always contact you with valid work email addresses.

If you see that the sent email address does not have the organization’s name, the best thing to do is to desist from subsequent correspondences. Assuming they use phone calls, you can always contact the customer care of that organization to be sure of who you are dealing with. In whatever you seek, never come out as desperate.

#2. Too good to be true offer

If an offer seems magical and too good to be true, you need to pause and think twice. In Africa, many believe scammers use ‘black magic’ to hypnotize their victims. However, in the real sense of it, what they usually do is prey on your greed and desperation. Humans are born greedy and self-centered. Some fight more to suppress these qualities.

#3. A sense of urgency

Scammers put you in a mental position where you lose your sense of logical reasoning. At this point, they tell you what to do and you obey like puppets because your mind is fixed on the prize. Once you feel a tinge of pressure to make a financial commitment, pause. One moment of logical reasoning free of any emotional sentiment can free you from their ‘spell’.

Gift Solomon gives out packaged pizza tp one of her numerous customers (Photo credit: News-WWC)
Gift Solomon gives out packaged pizza to one of her numerous customers (Photo credit: News-WWC)

Nothing can stop a determined mind

When Gift realized that she has been duped, she did not know what to do again. Nevertheless, she knew what not to do. She knew that she would not go back to her family in Nigeria. One way or another, she has to sort out herself there. Serendipitously, a friend suggested that she work at a restaurant called Freedom Pizza to pay her bills. She agreed, went for the job interview, and was employed.

With diligence, she worked her way to a managerial position in the company. Gift decided to do the unimaginable. She joined the food dispatch team but in her peculiar case, she uses a bike. There could be women that distribute foods using cars but none have ever used bikes in the country. Solomon Gift is happy to inspire many women across the globe with her story. In her words,

 

” In my mind, I know that I can do stuff. I shouldn’t be limited because I am a female…”

It was not until 2018 that women were allowed to drive in Dubai. Currently, women can drive, work, own properties, get quality education, and vote as well. Nevertheless, most women still seek the permission of their male guardians to exercise their rights.

Gift Solomon is not the first African to fall for Employment Scam

There will always be bad people in the world to take advantage of people’s vulnerabilities. Therefore, it is important to curtail greed and the unfounded quest for unmerited rewards. There was an incident in which some Sudanese looking for greener pastures were cunningly recruited into Libya-based military forces.

Nevertheless, a determined mind fuels hard work which always pays. Now, Gift Solomon can conveniently place food on her table. Also, she is the first woman to be a delivery rider in Dubai. Reebok, a shoe company, profiles her as one of the inspiring women in the world.

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