Nigerians annoyed at United Nations for saying 'Albinos are killed and used for money rituals in Nigeria'

zainab quadri

October 22, 2015 6:12 PM

The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) ran a story yesterday on a Nigerian refugee family who just fled Libya and are seeking asylum in Italy.

Jasmine plays with the hair of her mother, Shalom.

The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) ran a story yesterday on a Nigerian refugee family who just fled Libya and are seeking asylum in Italy.

The article which was written by Alice Thompson claimed that Albinos in Nigeria are 'frequently attacked and sometimes even killed. In many parts of Africa, their body parts are sold to witch doctors and used in rituals.'

Shalom the asylum seeker claimed that they can't return to Nigeria for fear that her daughter Jasmine would be kidnapped.

Nigerians have however reacted to the news, calling it a lie.

See some of the tweets below.

Albinism is a congenital disorder, an absence of melanin pigment, a chemical substance responsible for colouration. It is estimated that about one in 70 people carry a recessive gene for albinism and about I in every 18,000 people in the world have albinism condition.

Nigeria is estimated to have one of the highest albinism prevalence rates in the world, which is about 6 million. Children constitute about 40% of this population, spread across all the states in Nigeria. But despite this number, many persons with albinism living in Nigeria are not discriminated upon.

zainab quadri