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Tolu Fiz Akanee is a thinker, writer and speaker; the author of A-Z Life lessons

Monday, April 18, 2011

Corporate slave trade

Word came to me on Friday that the start-up pay for graduates in NNPC is less than a hundred thousand naira and this stirred up great discomfort in me, I was sad as I couldn't contain the shock knowing what NNPC generates in financial returns on a monthly basis. To a large extent, I have a problem with the way things are done in this country, particularly how university graduates are treated, I earn a little above $300 every month and the goverment pays me additional $64 that I often feel insulted to withdraw from the bank; and once in a while when I get to discuss my pay with some people I get that "wow, you're lucky oh" and I always do a good job in containing my feelings.

I don't believe in operating based on local standards, after all our curriculum in the university was gotten from the western world, so your harvest for investing your time into getting educated should be somewhat comparable. Those that work the hardest earn the least in the country and it's disturbing.

If you were to be selling coffee at Starbucks or to be at the sales stand in McDonalds, are you telling me your monthly pay per month can be anything less than $1,000?
So we wear expensive clothes, work 8-5pm i.e. 9hrs per day, 5 days a week, which is 45hours a week and ultimately 180hours a month only to get $300 in your account (less than $2/hour) and no one is saying anything about this?

Agreed NYSC is service to nation, but what do you have to say about the average banker that gets #150,000 ($1,000) a month working 7am - 7pm (12hrs) daily, 60hrs a week, 240hrs a month
If you work 240hrs/month in McDonalds at $11/hr (google statistics) that's $2,640 = 400,000 in Naira. How many people earn up to that in this country? Some managers don't get two-thirds of that!

WOW!!
So well over 70% of those that I see waking up as early as 4:30am just so they can get to their office for 7:30am then end up getting back home around 9:00pm don't even earn up to $10/hour???!!
What/where then is the reward for their labour?

Things just have to change!

The vacancies are not there and the applicants are plenty, so the applicants that are offered the very few available jobs can't even negotiate their worth. They throw the offer letters on your laps and you either take it or any of the many other qualified candidates will take it. 
The people know that the jobs are not there but they don't understand that the jobs are not there, so they are brokenhearted after every unsuccessful attempt thinking that they are the problem. But the problem is most often not with the applicants, it is the system that is messed up. 

Oh African child
Where doth they hope lie


What happened to the days when employers were glad to recruit university graduates into their workforce. If I was well informed I heard the trend was: go to school, graduate, get the job that has been waiting for you all this while, get offered a car and comfortable housing. These benefits are no more! But wait a minute, I think the benefits are still there, but they are reserved for those without black skins. They treat the son of the soil like crap and offer the best of the best to foreigners, they are the ones enjoying the best of this land, they are the ones lodged in posh hotels eating the best dishes and living in the best suites. Agreed they are competent, but must they rub it in our faces? Can we not grow competent indigenes?

My heart goes out to mothers who borrowed money to send their children to universities with the hope that in a couple of years, there will be reasonable return on investment.  But our graduates are roaming all around the streets looking for the jobs that are not there. Those that are meant to create the jobs have left the world of works, to dwell with the 'powerful' so that they can get into political office and eat 'the good of the land' they've not worked for. If only those political gimmicks can be translated into business strategies, if only that greed can the translated into a thirst for economic growth.  Prices of crude oil has sky rocketed, which means there will be plenty of excess crude oil reserve cash for the nation at the end of the year, but we can't celebrate just yet because we know what selfish channels those funds will be directed into. 

The government is bad and the people are crying
But who/what is the government?
The people are the government 
The people are therefore bad and the people are crying 

Agreed most of the political office holders are not doing it right, but should the captain of industries join them?

If the educated earn that low then we should not be surprised when they tell us that millions of Nigerians live on less than a dollar per day. What are we doing to ourselves, why have we chosen to embrace this poor standard of living. 

My heart bleeds as I share these thoughts and I can't wait to put things in order, I crave for that moment in time when I will be a major employer of labour in this nation. I am too convinced I shall grow a model organisation, I am to convinced that the financial remuneration I will be offering my staff will be enviable worldwide. Reason being that I would be doing it out of love for humanity. We need love to get things right in this country!

Do these things bother you?
Share your opinion...

7 comments:

24yearOldTeEnAgeR said...

So true. So sad. Employment policies need to be reformed seriously. This truth sure hurts. Last paragraph was the suckerpunch. I like this.

jaycrown said...

this is yet another one of those reasons why we have to be employers of labour.
the Nigerian renumeration system needs a revolution. the government parastatals have to set the pace.

government! pay your workers right.

and maybe the private organizations would follow suit.

@air_meka said...

Nice thought tolu. Just to pinpoint..what do we expect when the folks who help set our curriculum set up irrelevant schemes making graduate meet a whole new ball game when they leave the university. truth be told, a good number of graduates aren't intellectually capable to handle some jobs out there (due to this poor curriculum followed over the years)

Except for those who chose to develop themselves personally (personal development is key) and it is a personal responsibility.

Remember our famous saying, if you are not loaded you are not needed.

No one ignores excellence .. people should take charge of their destinies..if they can't attach to those that have and learn.

The role of the government is just to create a suitable environment for a seed(dream) to grow..

If they are failing ..do not !

Unknown said...

Well said man. Thought about this too quite a while ago and its quite sad that a lot of people still don't get it from this perspective of yours. I guess the ones who know and see the larger picture sure have a lot to do in proffering solutions.

Dammie said...

hmm...very interesting. I think the issues may be a bit more complicated though

Sogzy said...

opinion: lets stay positive in a negative environment.....just like the black slaves sang on their march to freedom....WE SHALL OVERCOME>>>WE SHALL OVERCOME some day!.....

Can't wait to add my quota to the much needed changes in the educational sector....by His grace.

Well said Tolu n Yes, we need Love and we need God.

Unknown said...

Interesting enough, I always noticed the oppression but not the numbers. This is quite enlightening. I'm working on a fix myself; we'll get there.