Unemployment

By Engr. Mustapha Habu Ringim

There is a significant thing for university students doing nothing at home, in their neighbourhoods, or going from one town to another town. Still, some of these students just waste their precious time on social media, which can be described as a “waste of data.” Thanks to the students’ lack of the mindset to learn a skill or handwork.

Learning skills will benefit them even after graduating from university. Therefore, the fruitful result is that they will become employed or employers, instead of moving up and down looking for an even non-existent job, just like everyone following events in Nigeria knows today.

Engausa Global Tech. Hub hereby welcomes all enlightened students who have realised that we are now in the age of “Digital Technology”. Thus, because we know of such challenges and joblessness, we established EngausaHub.com, whose main aim is “Breaking Barriers and Bridging Gaps.”

Before suspending the ongoing ASUU strike, students can gain a lot. And even afterwards, what they must have learnt will benefit them, in and outside the university. In fact, it’s ridiculously unwise for a young person not to have where he acquires a modern skill or handwork. Otherwise, he would just be going to the university with an empty pocket, with nothing to buy anything they desire.

The universities themselves should have skills acquisition centres because it has become pervasive for graduates—sometimes, including master’s and PhD holders—to finish school and never get a job. They would just “enmesh” themselves in the so-called “Labour Market” without any fruitful result in the end.

Hence, I advise the ASUU, federal and state governments to establish vocational training centres in our universities and other tertiary institutions. Most of these sustainably developed countries also adopted this same method of getting exceptionally good young people. The Vice-chancellor of Skyline University, an Indian, confirmed this assertion to me when he recently paid us a familiarisation visit at ENGAUSA HUB. 

We seek Allah’s guidance.

Engr. Mustapha Habu Ringim is the Founder/CEO Engausa Global Tech. Hub, Kano. He can be reached via ringims@gmail.com or 070383224643. Their websites are www.engausahub.com and www.chosenglobalech.com.

By Sadiq Aliyu Waziri

“Education is the key to success” is the cliché that filled our ears to the extent that we got hypnotised and went to school. We have listened and done what was demanded, but success remains a de luxe ethereal dream. Thanks to the system for bringing such a motivational saying down to nothing. Who said it first deserves pity while those that believed should wait for succour. The system’s failure to prove that education is indeed the key has doomed our society with the presence of unemployment, the begetter of revolt. 

The way I see it, the unemployment problem should not be last or penultimate, but the first in the other direction. Every government should tackle its course to building a sound society or salvaging a community endangered by their predecessors, as they will prefer to say it. This and how bad the system is are no longer alluring headlines. Calls and cries have been on the air for a long time. However, the system has turned a deaf ear and refused to act for the absence of patriotism or of acumen or perhaps the two put together.

The number of unemployed youth is alarming, ranging from secondary school certificate holders to second-degree graduates. Everyone’s desperate to secure a good job for survival. But, like it or not, this desperation is putting both the youth and the country at stake, endangering the youth morality and the country’s peace.

My advice to the unemployed youth is, don’t allow your love for a lucrative job to destroy you by leading you to do heinous things or following every fool that promises you a job. What you need is patience. Then, ready yourself for every challenge that is to come. Money and power are not everything. Don’t steal or terrorise anybody or become a ‘pimp’ for not having a job. Unless it is a dream to build a political career, don’t go into it because you think it is the only place to get a job.

I don’t know how or when, but you will secure a job that you crave with or without the help of anyone. As a matter of fact, you do not need to kowtow to anyone to help you get a job so that you won’t be forever in anyone’s debt. So be patient now until the time comes.

Sadiq Aliyu Waziri sent this article via sawaziry@yahoo.com.

By Yusuf Shuaibu Yusuf

Though there is still one form of slavery or the other worldwide, I was particular on this topic after watching recent footage showing how a housemaid was savagely killed by her supposed Arab employer. I, therefore, aim to join multiple voices clamouring for the governments of some Gulf countries, United Nations and other international communities to end the practice of domestic servitude whose victims are primarily African and Asian migrants. These poor people are stuck in many Gulf countries. The housemaids undergo horrendous treatment. Among these victims are many Nigerians who leave their country for political or economic reasons. 

At first, I couldn’t have expounded on issues so sensitive as this, even more so, as it involves the place of birth of our Noble Prophet, the country inhabiting the holy sites, the Qibla and the pilgrimage of any Muslim. Still, the issue at hand transcends any sentiment. 

While many Arabs in Gulf countries are piously angelic, treating their housemaids with honour and dignity, others are contrary to that. Instead, they are fiendishly sadistic as they take delight in humiliating their African and Asian housemaids, turning them into modern-day slaves.

Since time immemorial, it has been a long tradition for African Muslims to stay in Saudi Arabia and work as domestic servants after performing their religious obligations. Consequently, domestic service in Saudi Arabia came to be considered lucrative jobs among many Asians and Africans, particularly Nigerians.

Recently, due to political and economic challenges, Nigeria has witnessed the proliferation of bogus travel agents who fill their clients with utopian ideals about Gulf countries and who themselves are loosely linked with the recruiting firms in those countries. Desperate to leave the country, these clients easily fall for these lies and illusions. Hence, there has been an influx of youth from Nigeria into Saudi Arabia, Oman, Dubai, Qatar, Lebanon and some few Arab countries in Africa like Libya and Algeria. 

While most of the pilgrims working as domestic servants in Saudi Arabia before were primarily people of diverse age and sex, the recent influx has seen political refugees and economic migrants constituting of youth – predominantly females. Some of these migrants usually become disillusioned a few days after their arrivals in such countries as their recruiters leave them at the mercy of their employers. Having nobody to turn to for help, they often become subject to molestation and other forms of gender-based violence.

Women are believed to be more exposed and vulnerable to all sorts of these harassments than men. Perhaps their relatively delicate biological constitution and the fact that most of them live in the same compounds with their employers heighten their risks of being abused. 

The emotional story of “Sarah”, a Ghanaian maid in Lebanon who narrowly made her escape from the abusive family she had been working for, is an excellent example of how prone to abuse housemaids are. Sarah is not her real name for privacy sake. Shortly after her escape, she narrates to Mark Stone, a Middle East correspondent, how she was raped at knifepoint by her employer’s brother while taking a bath. 

It was also recounted, in another video clip, by a former housemaid in one of the Arab countries that a housemaid can be called to work at any time. A housemaid is not assigned one particular job like cooking, cleaning, or attending to children. Instead, she is given different tasks like attending to the sexual needs of her employer or some members of his family or both. Should she fail one of these tasks, she is treated savagely. 

The case of housemaids being thrashed by their bosses in Gulf countries has become a norm. Racist and invective are the common languages used to address the housemaids on slight provocation.

I couldn’t believe what my eyes saw in one footage sent to my sister on September 16, 2021, from Saudi Arabia via WhatsApp. I had never before imagined a barbarous and atrocious act of that magnitude could be perpetrated against animals at this so-called civilized age, much less a human being. The footage videotapes a person, allegedly a Saudi nobleman, attired decently in Arab dress, closing in on a black lady, supposedly his maid, who is lying on the floor, screaming, frantically struggling to disentangle herself from her supposed killer. But, on the other hand, stands, a broadly built woman, dressed in a green jacket, clenched in her left hand is what looks like a syringe, yelling at the struggling and screaming woman to stop resisting (at what only God knows what). This second black lady could be a nurse or anything else.

I’m sure that she is also under the payroll of this assumed killer. Even though the man’s intention is bent on killing the other housemaid, this woman has never attempted to intervene. Throughout the footage, she can just be seen yelling and pleading with the screaming girl to stop resisting. The man is captured in the video clip incessantly hitting the face of this screaming lady with his right hand and his right knee while pinning her down with his left hand and his left knee so that she can’t escape. Finally, the man ruthlessly strangulates her.

Prompted by this macabre footage, I tenaciously grew more curious and went further to download some television interviews, more violent footage and audios (some of which I have already hinted about) of some ex-housemaids in Gulf countries recounting their harrowing experiences while conducting their jobs as housemaids. 

According to Middle East Eye, the first video is of Sumi Akter 25-year-old Bangladeshi maid, bitterly and soulfully crying and begging for her escape.  She shares how she was beaten, tortured and abused by her employer and his family in Saudi Arabia. She is said to have posted the video from a hidden location to her Facebook account, where millions viewed it, which prompted protests in Bangladesh. 

Another footage of a black lady trying to get out from what looks like a toilet while being sent back by repeated flogs by her supposed Arab boss. As shown in the video clip, the incident occurs in a family room in an Arab quarter in an unidentified country. Arab family and other black housemaids are in the footage. An Arab lady asks the enraged boss to stop beating the black lady, but he doesn’t seem to listen. Later the beaten housemaid is captured standing in the middle of the living room, desperate, her back awash with blood. 

An ex-Nigerian housemaid in Oman shared her tormenting experience in audio recently trending on social media. She recounts how she had to leave two jobs because of advances made to her by her lesbian mistresses.

To end this crime, the countries these victims come from should impose laws checkmating the activities of those bogus domestic service agencies and their clients internationally. They should also ensure the rights of their citizens are not only protected within their countries but also in foreign countries. The governments of the Gulf states should crack down on those households who take advantage of the defenceless migrant domestic workers in their states. The killers such as the one described above shouldn’t go unpunished. They should be tracked down and brought to justice to serve as deterrents to others. United Nations should also formulate stricter laws safeguarding the rights of domestic workers internationally. 

Yusuf Shuaibu Yusuf sent this via yusufshuaibuyusuf@gmail.com.

By Ishaka Mohammed

Illusion. Yes, that’s what I see in many fellows who consider themselves optimists. Denying the existence of a sad situation doesn’t portray optimism; rather, it depicts a glaring loss of control in an ocean of illusion. However, believing that the situation will change for the better is optimism.

There’s no gainsaying that poor remuneration is an undeniable feature of a typical Nigeria’s workplace. Considering the conditions of service and state of the nation, one can irrevocably say that many employees are grossly underpaid in almost every organisation in Nigeria.

From media houses to fuel stations, schools and other organisations, you find journalists, pump attendants and teachers who work for no fewer than eight hours per day but go home at the end of the month with a paltry sum of N15,000 or something lower than that. In fact, I heard from a lecturer of mine who used to be a practising journalist (now a communication lecturer) that a certain publisher of a national newspaper told some of his employees that their identity cards were their meal tickets; he had nothing to pay them. This is one of the reasons why some journalists not only expect but also demand brown envelopes from organisers of events.

This underpayment issue is like asking a man to walk fast on an alley filled with banana rind. Considering the slippery nature of the rind, it’ll be a great achievement for such a person to avoid staggering, that’s if he doesn’t fall outright. As an employee, I feel your pains, but you need that achievement; you must stand tall. Avoid waiting for others to change things for you.

Many underpaid workers are forced into recording unsatisfactory performances. That’s one thing you must resist. Once you’re sure that your remuneration is poor, look for where you may attract more value to yourself; otherwise, consider upscaling your competence.

Martin Luther King’s speeches often inspire me. He insisted that we must be the best of whatever we are. As a classroom teacher, I become more critical of myself each time I read the following lines. 

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper that did his job well.'”

So, dear teachers, being underpaid must never turn you into cheats. Instead, research, teach and evaluate your students appropriately. Those kids under your tutelage don’t belong to your employer; they’re future leaders. Even if they don’t end up in public offices, they’ll at least lead their families. And, as we all know, it’s difficult for banditry and terrorism to thrive in a society where a significant percentage of members possess quality education.

Beware, o you health workers. In your dealings with your patients, avoid being influenced by the unfair treatment you receive from your employers or the government. If you fail to control yourself, you may murder innocent people or cause them lasting deformities.

My dear journalists, we’re aware of the meagre sums you take home as salaries. But such should never be your justification to feed your society with false stories. A mass communication lecturer at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Dr Muhammad Hashim Suleiman, once said, “The deliberate mistakes of journalists…lead to mangled human bodies, orphaned children, burnt cities, poverty…and general societal retrogression.” I’m sure you wouldn’t want to be responsible for chaos in your society.

O fellow Nigerians, here’s a passionate appeal to you. Aim for excellence in whatever you do. Regardless of your workplace or salary value, make diligence and fulfilment your hallmarks and watchwords. If a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing well. Be mindful of posterity; do your level best today so that the people of tomorrow will mention you for good.

And in case it becomes necessary to resign your position in an organisation, remember to quit honourably. Even after submitting your resignation, make your presence noticeable by offering your very best until your last day there; such might make your employer feel your absence. Due to the unpredictability of life, avoid burning your bridges.

On a final note, dear Nigerian workers, bear in mind that your actions and inactions have earthly and heavenly consequences. Being guided by professionalism will do you a great deal of goodness. So, strive always to be the best version of yourself. On the above premise, therefore, as an underpaid worker, you’re expected to solve your problem. You’re the best person to change your situation for the better.

Ishaka Mohammed wrote from Kaduna State. He can be reached via ishakamohammed39@gmail.com.

By Adamu Tilde, PhD.

For a while now, Nigeria has been witnessing exponential growth in the rise of certificate-awarding institutions and massive production of holders of certificates of all kinds: diplomas, NCEs, degrees, masters, PGDs, etc. Ordinarily, this should be a welcome development. But, unfortunately, this phenomenon comes at the expense of acquiring quality skills, thus resulting in the production of certificate holders with no skills at all or with some skills that are not in demand and/or have no economic value whatsoever.

One comes to realise the effects of this phenomenon when one does a simple close-proximity analysis—for example, over sixty registered and unregistered colleges of education award NCE certificates in Bauchi state alone. Most of the courses offered in these colleges are combinations of English/Hausa, Social Studies/English, Arabic/Fulfulde, etc. The questions to ask are: what are the specific skills that an average NCE holder acquires in the three years they spend in college? Do these skills, if any, have any economic value? If yes, how many NCE holders, for example, does Bauchi state need at any given time?

Again, in Toro, one out of the twenty local government areas of Bauchi state, there are six colleges of health technology and counting. Most of the courses offered in these colleges are diplomas in Medical Records, Environmental Health, Community Health, Laboratory Technology, etc. I may sound so dismissive of these courses, but don’t get me wrong. These are significant courses and, perhaps, with valuable skills to offer, but we already have enough to go around. And, trust economics, its laws are no respecters of irrational decisions: the higher the supply, the lower the demand and invariably the price. So the need to rethink why we do certain things instead of other things could not be more urgent.

Way Forward

To be very clear, I am not presenting anything novel. Our pioneer leaders had envisaged the inevitable need for technical skills for economic growth and development, and that’s why they established monotechnics, polytechnics, and technical colleges across the country. No thanks to unimaginative leadership and penchant for mass production of certificates-wielding graduates that had led to having polytechnics with more students studying mass communication, theatre arts than engineering, computer science, statistics, etc. Nothing can be more ironic.

In the following subheadings, I will argue on why we should pay more attention to technical skills and invest more in establishing technical colleges:

Guaranteed employment

Rest assured that employers lined up waiting for you once you possess skills like plumbing, welding, woodwork, carpentry, masonry, tiling, electric wiring, programming, website and apps development, etc. With an increase in population comes corresponding demands for housing, food, and services. So these skills will forever be in need, so long as we breathe. And in the event you don’t want to be on the payroll of anybody, you can monetise the skills by employing yourself. For example, a diploma holder in animal health and production can engage in the private practice of visiting farms and local markets to provide first aid treatment. There are too many farms to go around. We can say the same about a plumber, tiler, painter, etc.

Less time than conventional schooling

Most technical skills can be acquired in a record time, probably in a year or two, and then you are good to go. The most interesting thing about a given skill is that the more you practice it, the more you master it. Moreover, it is more difficult for a person to forget a set of skills than the paper-based theories learned in school. Very unlike typical schooling (a diploma or a degree), where you would spend 2 or 4 years with no specific skills to show and then sooner you would forget the little theoretical knowledge you have acquired since you are not practising.

High return on investment

Compared to the money spent to acquire NCE certificates, diplomas in health-related courses, and some instances, degree courses, you are better off having any of the aforementioned technical skills. NCE holders and, in some cases, degree holders hardly make up to ₦30,000 per month in many private schools. In fact, even in public service, NCE holders fetch ₦36,000 per month in Bauchi state. When you analyse the time, money and energy expended to acquire the certificate and the monetary reward after that, you will struggle to make economic sense of the decision. So many Keke Napep guys make more than that amount in a month. So much for a heap of certificates!

Again, as a private investor, you are better off establishing a technical college, especially if you would engage in vertical integration by employing your products (graduates). For example, you can set a company that specialises in finishing and look for contracts. Trust me; we have a paucity of skilled workforce in the building industry. We do import tilers, plumbers, welders from outside. That’s how bad things are, and that’s how vast the opportunities are.

And for those who want to ‘japa‘ (to go abroad), your chance of securing a visa and employment abroad is greatly enhanced if you have any technical skills. This is for non-medical professionals and exceptionally brilliant computer wizards.

Note

The argument here is not whether an NCE certificate or health technology diploma or even degree certificate, for that matter, is good or not. No! The idea here is that we should go to colleges and universities to acquire skills that we can use to improve our financial situation. If the so-called certificate(s) you have obtained cannot fetch you a job or equip you with skills that people can pay for, you need to rethink why you were in school in the first place. We have tonnes of graduates and varying certificate-holders roaming the street for jobs that are not there and crying for lack of employment; meanwhile, they have no skills worth employing. We are massively producing what we do not need and under-producing what we urgently need. Something is wrong.

We have to appreciate the dynamics of time. Long ago, all it takes to climb the mythical social ladder and join the much-vaunted middle-class is a certificate of any kind. Whatever or not you studied in the university is immaterial; public jobs were waiting for you. But that was then. Those years of yore have passed for good. There are no more public jobs for everyone. Internalise this and know peace. As for private companies, well, first of all, they are not charity organisations. Secondly, they are profit-driven, so they don’t employ people to fill any underrepresented state’s quota. Thirdly, they reward value— what you have to offer is what counts. You need much more than a certificate to survive. You need skills, not just any skills, but skills that have economic value.

You need to wake up and smell the coffee. Hello!

Dr Tilde can be reached via adamtilde@gmail.com.