Some of them confirmed that they are aware that their case was like that of ‘voluntary slavery;’ but said they had become powerless as a result of the economic hardship in the country.
“This job is slavery, there is no other way to describe it. In fact, the company only started paying N15,000 recently. Our salary was N12,000 before. But where else do I go if I leave this job? Even if I find another factory work somewhere else, it is not likely that it will pay better.
“I don’t want to lose my job please, I cannot lose this job. My wife is pregnant. The survival of my family and I depends on the N15,000 I earn here per month.”That was the words of a worker identified as Abbas. He tried to explain the reason why he had to be vigilant as he met with Punch correspondent some distance away from one of the factories of Lifemate Furniture, where he works on Oregun Road, Lagos.
Lifemate is one of the numerous businesses run by Chinese nationals in the country.
For Abbas, work begins at 8am and ends at 5.30pm. Abbas’s appearance was nothing close to what one could describe as good. His mien portrayed a man facing rough times.
“I finished secondary school but I had no means to further my education,” the 31-year-old man said.
His work involves lifting heavy materials as he has to carry chunks of marble and other materials used for the high-end products churned out from the company’s factory everyday.
Abbas said, “We hear from many other factory workers around. Their bosses pay terrible wages as well. It is usually like that in Chinese factories,” he added.
Foreign investment or foreign slavery?
China is one of the biggest investors in Africa. In fact, recently, the outgoing Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Deng Boqing, said the trade volume between Nigeria and China in 2013 was almost $13bn.
“We encourage the Chinese companies to do their business, especially establishing factories in Nigeria in order to increase job opportunities for Nigerians and industrialise products for Nigerians,” the envoy had said.
But stories abound how badly expatriate employers treat locals in the country.
Punch met Tade Babatunde, a 30-year-old former employee of Lifemate, who said he developed a recurrent chest pain as a result of lifting heavy materials while working in the firm. He was fired a few months ago.
He said, “The first time I took permission to go for treatment since the company does not have a health insurance, N5,600 (about $36) was deducted from the N26,000 (about $167) I earned monthly. I was so shocked because I had thought my bosses would be considerate. I earned N26,000 because I had spent more than three years in the company.
“If you are ill, you are on your own. The second time I had to stay off work because of the chest pain, I got back to work and was fired. I was a healthy person before I got the employment. There are no lifting tools available to us. I developed health challenges after continuous lifting of heavy materials in the factory.”
Babatunde said that out of his N26,000 salary, N6,000 was spent on transport from his home to work and from work back home since he had to work Monday through Saturday. Only his Sunday was free.
“I live in Ijaiye and spent at least N200 on transport every day while I was working with Lifemate. I had to do a lot of trekking daily just to reduce the cost of transport,” he said.
A visit to the showroom of the furniture company reveals a repertoire of expensive high-end furniture and marble-topped kitchen cabinets.
Babatunde was bitter. He said the fact that he was paid far less than the heavy work he did should have made his foreign employers to be considerate when he complained of ill health.
In another part of Lagos, and in yet another high-end furniture factory, Alibert Products Nigeria Limited, employees work for pay they can barely survive on.
During a visit to the factory, one of the employees who volunteered to speak with our correspondent blatantly refused to give his name for fear of being sacked for whatever he had to say. He explained that no matter how small the wages the foreigners who employed them paid, they could never protest.
“I had been coming here for at least two years in search of work before I was offered work in December 2013. I am paid N15,000 per month. Of course, it is not enough but where is the job in this country? Don’t you know things are hard in Nigeria?
“Nobody here complains about the little wage we are paid because we are all afraid of losing our job. I cannot afford to lose this job because it took me a long time before I could get in. In fact, if not for a friend who helped me, I would still be coming here every morning with the hope that someday, I would get a job in the factory.”
This young man is a polytechnic graduate who learnt furniture making after school.
Having qualified as a furniture maker, our correspondent suggested that he should have set up his own workshop. But he said there was no fund to set up as he even had to scrounge for money to put himself through school.
He said, “After I left school and there was no job, I had to go and learn furniture making. When I finished that too, there was no money to set up. I thought the best thing was to look for work in a factory like this. So you can see, anybody who complains that the money we are paid is too small is just stupid.
“Last month, my friend left this job. He said the money was too small for him. He was the one feeding me before I got the job. Now, I am the one feeding him.”
The case of the young man mirrors the plight of many young Nigerians who seek jobs in factories run by expatriates in different parts of the country.
He felt he was one of the lucky ones even though he admitted that out of his N15,000 salary, he spent between N6,000 and N7,000 on transport every month.
“I spend at least N150 every day on transport because I live in Egbeda,” he said.
N93 per hour work
Between 7am and 12pm of any week day, at least 60 youths, both male and female, besiege the entrance of Solpia Nigeria Limited, a company that manufactures artificial hair on Iju Road, Agege, Lagos.
The young men and women appear to be relentless because they are there everyday and remain at the gate of the Chinese company for hours before dispersing in twos and threes late in the evening.
One of the young men, Ayotunde Akinyo, who has become a regular “customer” among those who visit the company every morning, explained the reason why he had been parading the place with the hope of getting employed in the last six months.
“Sometimes, the Chinese owners employ 50 people at a go out of the crowd of job seekers standing outside. Sometimes, they take just five. Before now, I used to come here irregularly, but it seemed that they usually employed on those days that I did not come. That is why I have been coming here regularly for the past six months,” he said.
Akinyo said he was 27 years old and had a Higher Diploma in Mechanical Engineering.
When he was asked by our correspondent whether he was aware of how much he could be paid if he was lucky to get employed, he said he knew.
The young polytechnic graduate said he knew that he would be paid N15,000, which translates to about N93 per hour for eight hours in five days a week. A worker had earlier hinted that the salary of a fresher in the company used to be N20,000 until it was recently slashed to N15,000.
“What other choice have I got? I did not just graduate and decided to come here. I had searched for jobs and was tired before I decided to come here,” Akinyo explained.
Akinyo found no reason to be ashamed as he was aware that there were many other graduates like him in the crowd working in this slavery condition in Nigeria, yet the Presidency keep saying GDP is growing.
When will there be a reasonable set of leaders that will allow more money for the states to develop and not just sit on the resources of the country in Abuja, using millions to buy computer and feed Lions in Aso Rock?
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