The Kafala System: A System Theory Approach to Understanding Nigerian Migrant Workers’ Plight in the Gulf States

Abstract

The Kafala system is an enduring theme in global migration scholarship.
Initially conceived as a migrant labour governance instrument , Kafala’s
operational mechanisms have evolved into control measures which heighten
dependency, exploitation, and abuse. Within this existing order of
disorderliness, using structuralism and decision-making theories, this study
interrogates the plights of Nigerian migrant workers in the Gulf States. The
study submitted that systemic issues embedded in the Kafala worsen the
plights of Nigerian migrant workers, exacerbating their vulnerability and
limitating their ability to seek redress. The findings of the study underline the
urgent need to institute region-wide, comprehensive and systemic reform of
Kafala to address its inadequacies.