Slaves in our own country

If Nigerians, given the country’s huge human and material resources, have no reason to be enslaved in any foreign country; the need for…

If Nigerians, given the country’s huge human and material resources, have no reason to be enslaved in any foreign country; the need for them as citizens to suffer any form of slavery on their own native soil is even rarest. Regrettably, the federal government has continued to watch and allow Nigerians to be subjected to some forms of economic bondage and oppressive working conditions in their own fatherland; surprisingly, in the hands of some foreigners. This, in recent years, has been the experience of many unskilled and semi-skilled Nigerians working in Chinese-owned companies in Nigeria.

Precisely on Wednesday 21, 2023, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) picketed a Chinese company, Shaanxi Construction Engineering Group Corporation, over what it described as dehumanizing condition of Nigerian workers in the company. This followed the death of one of the workers whose death is attributed to negligence on the part of the company. The union arrived as early as 7:30am at the construction site of the company where it is building the new headquarters of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), located in Lugbe district of Abuja. Although there was initial resistance at the gate of the company, the protesting union and its picketing team were later allowed access by the management, which refused to speak on the protest.

Addressing the protesting workers, General Secretary of the NLC, Emmanuel Ugboaja, lamented the alleged inhumane treatment meted out to workers at the construction site. He said the Chinese company engaged the workers on an ad-hoc basis with no fair conditions of service, welfare or medical services in their work place. He decried how one of the workers, a driver identified as Mr Augustine, died due to utter neglect and lack of timely medical attention.

Narrating her ordeal, the wife of the late driver, Mrs Augustine, said the company failed to take her husband to the hospital and also did not allow him to go home for treatment. She said when they eventually permitted him to go home, his situation had worsened with a swollen neck. She said she took her husband to the Teaching Hospital in Gwagwalada, Abuja, and later, to the National Hospital where her husband died. Mrs Augustine condemned how the Chinese company failed to respond to her request for assistance in favour of her husband’s medication. Instead, the Chinese company issued a letter terminating her husband’s appointment.

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It would be recalled that in October 2022, workers in a Chinese-owned recycling plant in Abule Ododo, Ogun state, quit their jobs to protest the death of their colleagues. The workers numbering about 50 resigned from the company and demanded justice for their deceased colleagues. The recycling plant reportedly went up in flames when the top of a charged machine fell, leading to an explosion. Three factory workers on duty were reportedly burnt to death while others sustained varying degrees of injury. The workers alleged that the management of the company locked them inside the premises during the incident; which was the major cause of the death of some workers.

Similarly, in May 2021, the Lagos State government sealed a Chinese firm, Mingy Trading Company Limited, located at No 11, Ila Orangun Street, Ijegun-Egba, Satellite Town. The action followed a visit by the Lagos State Safety Commission as a result of the reported death of the 17-year-old Babatunde AbdulRahmon on the day he assumed duty. The Director General of the commission, Mr. Lanre Mojola, said the fatality which informed the sealing of the firm occurred due to violation of safety precautionary measures. Mojola said the firm exposed the victim to mechanical and electrical manufacturing equipment without training and provision for personal protective equipment. The victim reportedly lost his life in the process of operating the equipment. Mojola further noted that there was clear evidence of poor housekeeping by the company, lack of safety signage, poor factory layout for emergency management, very poor recruitment process with no documented training records, poorly installed electric cables and poor record keeping.

If slavery is “the ownership of a person as property especially with regard to his labour,” and if modern slavery is typically a by-product of poverty, then it is clear from the cases cited above that Chinese-owned companies in Nigeria are guilty of slavery; a crime against humanity. Why? Because they lack respect for human dignity as much as they care less for the lives of Nigerians working in their firms. The few incidents re-counted here also bring back to memory the case of Oceanic Bakery which once had a history of dehumanizing workers while at work. There have been reports in the media that contrary to existing provisions of the law, Chinese-owned companies in Nigeria source some of their unskilled labourers directly from China rather than from Nigeria. Such unskilled workers are also believed to be from among persons serving prison terms in China, their home country. One discernible message from this pattern of job profiling is that Nigerians are only good enough to do the job of meant for prisoners in China.

While the ill-treatment of Nigerian citizens by Chinese-owned companies remains incredible, it is most inconceivable that the federal government of Nigeria would fold its arms to watch her citizens being treated like slaves in their own country, Nigeria. This simply shows the abysmal worth of citizens in the eyes of the Nigerian government. Only an insensitive government would allow its citizens to work under slave-like conditions. Is the National Human Rights Commission waiting for the Chinese companies to finish killing Nigerians before it rises to the occasion? The NLC does not also seem to be doing enough to stop this pattern of modern slavery by the Chinese in Nigeria.

Relevant government authorities must not allow the enslavement of Nigerian citizens by Chinese companies in the country to continue. Leaders of the organised labour unions must also work to compel Chinese companies to value the lives of Nigerians, enforce work ethics and adopt best practices of safety while at work. May Allah inspire and strengthen the federal government to decisively stop Chinese companies operating in Nigeria from treating Nigerians like slaves, amin.