Lagos, Nigeria – In Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian capital, Moshood Afolabi, a 24-year-old aspiring Nigerian footballer, is stranded.
As an undocumented migrant, he has lost the occasional construction work that helped offset his rent of a shared apartment and internet bill.
He arrived in Mongolia on May 10 last year in search of a football career, with the help of an “agent”, at second-tier outfit Khovd Western FC, intending to use the east Asian country as a stepping stone to Europe.
“I didn’t plan to get to Mongolia because I planned to go to the UK [or another European country],” he told Al Jazeera by phone.
Afolabi’s agent lived near his home in Osogbo, in the southwestern Nigerian state of Osun. According to him the agent ran his agency scheme on the side, as he maintained an active football career.
“I know [the agent] from the street and helped him for [18 months]. From 2017, I helped his family, did some house chores, cut the grass around the compound. He used to send me out to buy some things. Sometimes I washed his car,” said Afolabi.
After an unsuccessful attempt to get him signed in Mozambique, the agent presented him with a chance to play in Mongolia, taking $1,600 from him for travel and visa expenses.