Ade Abbas (not real name) looked furtively around before he spoke. It was clear he was afraid.
He was afraid like many other factory workers, who simply walked away when our correspondent approached them to inquire about working conditions in their places of work.
Some of them told our correspondent that they were aware that their case was ‘voluntary slavery;’ but said they had become powerless as a result of the economic hardship in the country.
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, “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.
“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.
Stories abound how badly expatriate employers treat locals in the country.
Saturday PUNCH met Tade Babatunde, a 30-year-old former employee of Lifemate, who claimed he developed a recurrent chest pain as a result of lifting heavy materials while in the employ of the company.
He was fired a few months ago.
He told Saturday PUNCH, “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 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, “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.
“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.
Stories abound how badly expatriate employers treat locals in the country.
Saturday PUNCH met Tade Babatunde, a 30-year-old former employee of Lifemate, who claimed he developed a recurrent chest pain as a result of lifting heavy materials while in the employ of the company.
He was fired a few months ago.
He told Saturday PUNCH, “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.
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.
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.
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.
Brutality, abuse by expatriates
The PUNCH reported the case of 40-year-old Adeleke Owolabi, who was allegedly assaulted by his Chinese boss, Mike Jackson, and his (Jackson’s) cousin.
One kicked him in the private part, the other smashed a bottle on his head.
Many of this kind of incidents go unreported as our correspondent would soon learn.
A case in point is Nigerdock Nigeria Plc, an oil and gas construction company run by expatriates in Apapa, Lagos.
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.
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.
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.
Brutality, abuse by expatriates
The PUNCH reported the case of 40-year-old Adeleke Owolabi, who was allegedly assaulted by his Chinese boss, Mike Jackson, and his (Jackson’s) cousin.
One kicked him in the private part, the other smashed a bottle on his head.
Many of this kind of incidents go unreported as our correspondent would soon learn.
A case in point is Nigerdock Nigeria Plc, an oil and gas construction company run by expatriates in Apapa, Lagos.
Some of them unleash verbal abuses and unnecessary sanction against us just to keep us subdued,” one of the workers told Saturday PUNCH.
When asked to name the expatriates who treat them that way, he promptly mentioned Chris Clark (Briton) and Nichola Marriott (Briton).
“If you see the way Clark treats us, you will realise that it is just a matter of time before he starts to whip us,” he said.
In 2011, our correspondent reported how some expatriates in the company routinely called the Nigerian workers ‘black monkeys'.
Findings showed that the foreigners who were mostly guilty of abuse and maltreatment of their local workers are Indians, Chinese and Lebanese.
Government and the workers are to blame – Labour
The government has abandoned its regulatory responsibility as it concerns the operations of foreign companies in the country, a labour leader, Abiodun Aremu, told Saturday PUNCH.
He said the problems that brought about the “enslavement” of Nigerians were multi-faceted.
The major deficiency in addressing this issue has to do with the responsibility of the government.
When asked to name the expatriates who treat them that way, he promptly mentioned Chris Clark (Briton) and Nichola Marriott (Briton).
“If you see the way Clark treats us, you will realise that it is just a matter of time before he starts to whip us,” he said.
In 2011, our correspondent reported how some expatriates in the company routinely called the Nigerian workers ‘black monkeys'.
Findings showed that the foreigners who were mostly guilty of abuse and maltreatment of their local workers are Indians, Chinese and Lebanese.
Government and the workers are to blame – Labour
The government has abandoned its regulatory responsibility as it concerns the operations of foreign companies in the country, a labour leader, Abiodun Aremu, told Saturday PUNCH.
He said the problems that brought about the “enslavement” of Nigerians were multi-faceted.
The major deficiency in addressing this issue has to do with the responsibility of the government.
According to Aremu, workers themselves fail to report the terrible working conditions in many of these factories so that appropriate actions can be taken.
“Whatever is happening in those factories is a reflection of our irresponsibility as a people to determine what we want and how our country should be run.
Workers themselves need to be forthcoming so that their rights can be protected.
Only information from them can allow us to engage their employers. If you engage one employer, it would send signals to the rest,” he said.
Culled from Punch
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