When it was reported in the news that a certain company casual worker in Lagos knocked out the front teeth of his Indian employer, social media, as usual, reacted kindly with mixed feelings. Just like every other issue that has called into question our collective morality, reactions were divided into people who felt that the young man overreacted and a good number of those who were of the opinion that the young man acted right. But there was some form of rage, rage that is very understandable.
However, underlining all the reactions is the fact that Nigerians know different ways through which they are being exploited by the enablement of white privilege in the job market. Whether through underpayment or being overworked with little to no benefits, if you know, you know.
Walking to the bus stop through the road that led to my office complex every evening, an ugly sight usually greets me. So horrible is it that it makes my stomach turn each time.
It is not the number of women standing on the roadsides hawking their human wares and calling out potential customers, and sometimes cursing out loudly that irks me the most, nor is it the sight of children trying to paddle wooden boats in the canal as darkness chases the sun into a confinement.
Rather, it is the sight of a number of the long-haulage truck, perforated at different edges, packed with human beings that distort my belief that there is no hope for this very contraption called Nigeria. If there is, it is a long shot at freedom.
Seeing them evening upon evening zooming past, with sad faces peering through the openings, I am forced to believe that the government both at the state and federal levels have no idea what it means to be referred to as government. And so, they set the people up to be used as lab rats or beasts of burdens in their own country where they have the rights to decide whether or not to allow such. It is such a huge tragedy.
White privilege is not just an American thing. It has become a Nigerian thing, an African thing, and a Port Harcourt thing. There is also the growing Chinese privilege, the Indian privilege and whoever has a yellow skin colour that the government calls into the country for investment purposes.
There is a foreign investors’ craze among the leaders of today that one sits and cringes at the naivety of those we have running the affairs of this country. These people mortgage the future of the country and fail to harness the vast human resources idling away in the country, only to import foreigners to lord themselves over the citizens at the expense of the same citizens who pay taxes.
It is a common sight seeing construction companies, most of them floated by those in power and their allies, using foreigners as front. I think it is cheaper and helps in capital flights.
It also indicates that the government does not have any form of belief in the ability of its citizens to undertake some special projects.
Since our Universities churn out Civil Engineers yearly in their thousands, yet we cannot find them worthy of handling major constructions projects, why are we still having that course being studied in the universities if the government does not trust those who have gone through it?
Take the construction giant Julius Berger for instance. They have been in Nigeria for decades and have handled projects worth billions of dollars, yet they ferry their Nigerian workers in casket type of truck, like chickens, in the full glare of the public.
They are not alone in this. The China Civil construction company, Gitto, Setraco, Arab contractors etc are also accomplices in this degradation of Nigerians while their foreign bosses are chauffeured in flash sedans with tight security while the government that offered them the contracts face the other side.
Well, the government itself does not believe it owes the Nigerian people any form of loyalty or protection against foreign investors’ humiliation. When they do not believe in the ability of the citizens to do anything and so awards contracts for even huts construction to foreigners, one does not expect that they caution such foreigners in their constant abuse of Nigerians.
The security attaches to these immigrants will speedily kill you if you dare overtake them on the road. I have seen it happen in Port Harcourt not once but twice. The punishment issued to the driver was intense, so intense was it that the white immigrant had to step in and ask them to let the driver go.
While the government at all levels find it hard funding education, they easily acquire foreigners for their projects which they use as baits to get reelected.
Government officials do not believe in our education and so, they send their children to all sort of countries to acquire education.
They do not believe in our health system because they can jet out anytime to get the best healthcare abroad while the citizens die from rots in the health sector.
They do not believe that we can do anything except elect them. Meanwhile, they have never called for foreigners to run the affairs of the country. This is hypocrisy at its best and it is ruining the country.
