When Sherriffddeen Badmus (52), who goes by Sherriff, decided to move to Ireland in 2022 he was determined not to repeat the same mistakes that he made when moving from Nigeria to Ukraine in 1998.
After attending university in Lagos at Yaba College of Technology, he was sent to Jigawa State, in the very north of the country, to do his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). Though there is no military conscription in Nigeria, university and polytechnic graduates must take part in a compulsory year-long national service. They are posted to states other than their state of origin and expected to learn about and serve the local community – it was instituted in 1973 after the Nigerian civil war as a way of reconciling the country’s different communities.
Jigawa State is about a 16-hour drive away from his native Lagos. Though he excelled during his NYSC and was given automatic employment in Jigawa State at the end of his programme, he ultimately decided to go back to Lagos. “There is no place like home when you are still young,” he says.
“When I got back to Lagos I had 12 interviews but was not making any progress.”
RM Block
A friend in Ukraine suggested he move there, as there were better employment opportunities. It was easier for him to obtain a Ukrainian visa than a visa from other European countries because of the post-Soviet economic situation.
Initially the language barrier proved a problem but he enrolled in a language school to learn Russian (then widely spoken in Ukraine) and then found a job at one of Ukraine’s biggest markets in Odesa, where he sold clothes. Over the next few years he saved up enough to set up his own business selling clothes in the market. Not quite satisfied with that, he employed others to run his market stall and worked for a logistic company.
He speaks with great fondness about this time in his life. “Odesa was a very, very nice hospitable place.”
In 2002 he married Luba, and that same year they welcomed a son, Lubov.
However, in 2017 his wife died. “I miss her,” he says. “We were together for nearly 20 years. I still talk about her with my son.”
After Russia invaded in 2022, Badmus felt that he had no choice but to leave Ukraine. Odesa is a port city that serves as a large hub for transport and trade, and as such it was the target of a major bombing campaign in an attempt to cripple Ukraine’s economy.
“Nobody should have to experience that. I pray that nobody is in that situation.”
He first tried to leave the country with his son but then an order came through that banned Ukrainian citizens aged 18-60 from leaving the country, so his son was not allowed to leave. Not wanting to leave his son, the pair went back home.
“It became very difficult to make money. We couldn’t go to the market to sell goods.”
The economic situation was ultimately what led him to leave Ukraine. He made sure that his son was safe and then made plans to leave.
Badmus did a bit more research when deciding where to move to this time.
“I looked for countries that I could move to where I didn’t need to learn the language again.”
He made his way through Europe before getting the ferry from France to Rosslare, Co Wexford. For the first two months he lived in a hotel before moving to Riverside, Co Carlow.
When he first arrived in Ireland he was still on high alert and would jump at the smallest noise.
“Carlow is peaceful. My neighbours are good. I have not had a bad experience with anyone in Carlow. They take you as one of their own. Everyone is so nice.”
Two days a week he commutes to Dublin to work as a security guard at a fast food outlet on the night shift from 8pm to 5am.
“The people in Dublin are so difficult; they always think that they are right. You would be shocked that people can actually behave the way they behave in the early hours of the morning. In Carlow everybody respects everybody. Nobody will tell you to f**k off, for example.
The situation in Nigeria is a million per cent worse now than it was back then
“I’ve experienced more racism in Dublin than I have in Carlow.”
Friends of his who live in Dublin have been the victim of racist attacks, he says, adding that Dublin is the only place that he has experienced racism in Ireland.
He gives an example of an incident where a drunk customer called him racial slurs. When this customer was asked to leave, he told Badmus that he was a garda and therefore Badmus had no authority over him. “I knew he was not a guard by the way he conducted himself.”
Badmus went out on to the street to get some actual gardaí to assist him. When he returned with a few gardaí, the customer left.
“Most of the people who create issues don’t like answering to foreigners.”
While working he has been told that he is taking Irish people’s jobs by working security at the fast food outlet.
“It’s kind of funny, man. How can you take someone’s job if they did not apply for it?”
He does not believe there is anything for him back in Nigeria or Ukraine.
“The situation in Nigeria is a million per cent worse now than it was back then.”
He is crestfallen when talking about the level of destruction in Ukraine. “It’s going to take a long time to rebuild. I don’t know how they are going to do it.”
One day he hopes to be reunited with his son, but he does not know when that will be because of the war. They talk often but he misses him terribly.
For now he would like to stay in his adopted home in Carlow. He hopes his next job will be in Carlow, so he does not have to travel so far for work.
“I don’t like free stuff, and I want to contribute to Irish society. Everybody has something to contribute to society.”
We would like to hear from people who have moved to Ireland. To get involved, email newtotheparish@irishtimes.com or tweet @newtotheparish
