Dead Nigerians in a Lebanese Factory

Dead Nigerians in a Lebanese Factory

Tochukwu Ezukanma

Some foreign businessmen, especially these wonna-be Whites (the Lebanese, Indians, Koreans, Chinese, etc), in Nigeria are arrogant, rude and obnoxious. Generally financially comfortable and in addition, having a false sense of racial superiority, they feel they can ride roughshod over Nigerians. They often treat their Nigerian employees as peons - wage-earning slaves. They abuse, demean and exploit them and forced them to work under very dangerous conditions. Subdued and disconcerted by an oppressive system that reduces people in their own country to second class citizenship, their Nigerian employees uncomplainingly, acceptingly endure these ill-treatments. The death of eight Nigerians in a Lebanese owned company, Maikano Engineering, in Abuja epitomizes of this reality.

These employees became sick (eight died and thirty were hospitalized) because there was “an epidemic outbreak of which the management of the company knew about, but refused to contact the appropriate health authorities for help”. Hospital sources said “that rather than look for ways to address the mishap in the company, the management was doing everything possible to ensure that the matter did not get to the public”. That is, the management knew of the health hazards and did nothing to protect the workers, and after the calamity, their concern was not in addressing the issue but in covering it up. Oh Lord! It galls. It roils. And you just feel like taking endless swipes at these Lebanese owners of Maikano Engineering.

However, that will be misdirection of your anger because the problem is not with the Lebanese and the other foreign businessmen. The problem is with our government and the “big men” and madams that suffuse the Nigerian society. By their own actions, they taught the foreigners that the lives and welfare of Nigerians do not count; that it is acceptable to treat Nigerians with remiss and contempt in their own country. In their despicable treatment of Nigerians, the foreigners are only taking a prompt from the Nigerian government and the elite groups.

Why would they contact the appropriate authorities for help when they know that the wellbeing of the Nigerian masses do not matter to anybody? It does not matter to the elected and appointed government officials, business elite and the other Nigerian “big men” and madams. Why then will it matter to foreign businessmen? What happened in that Lebanese owned factory is an indictment of the Nigerian system. If the system permits it, many businessmen will not hesitate to maximize profit at the expense of their employees. So, the human catastrophe in that factory was a result of the failure of the Nigerian system. The Nigerian system stinks and that is what the problem is.

Starting from the 1980s, Korean and Chinese entrepreneurs started setting up retail businesses in some poor Black American neighborhoods. They felt they were racially superior to African Americans and being generally more affluent than the surrounding Black population, they were haughty, rude and condescending in their dealings with the Blacks. The Americans, unaccustomed to any form of snobbery, could neither understand nor tolerate these behaviors. Consequently, the Black Americans taught them some violent and painful lessons. They learnt the hard way that the American system does not countenance elitism, inane elitism.

Sadly, the Nigerian society thrives on elitism - ogaism and madamism - cheap, empty ogaism and madamism. The lives and hopes of so many under-privileged Nigerians hinge precariously on the whims and fancies of ogas and madams. The ogas and madams and indeed anyone with any modicum of authority exercise it at the expense the masses. Doctors and nurses in their superciliousness and outright wickedness negligently murder the sick; landlords ignore the legal rights of their tenants and use lawyers, real estate agents and policemen to hassle and bully them; employers disregard labor and industrial laws and treat their employees as dirt, etc. The status quo is inexcusably unjust. It strengthens the privileges and prerogatives of an elite few and tramples the rights and yearning s of the generality of the people. The elite class strives to reinforce the status quo because it buttresses their false feeling of importance, and allows them the latitude to oppress the poor, suppress the weak, exploit the system and disregard the law.

A thorough investigation of this mishap and a rigorous prosecution and punishment of the management of this Lebanese company will be wonderful. At least it will be a lesson to other businessmen and employers that those who railroad their employees into working in harsh and hazardous conditions will sooner or later be brought to book. But a severe punishment of Maikano Engineering will be an assault on the status quo which will invariably erode the pretensions of some Nigerian ogas and madams; some of whom are culpable of similar offenses.

So, it is unlikely that much will come out of the investigation in the death of these Nigerians, and that serious penalty will be imposed on the management of this errant company. Do not be surprised that they will bribe a few key individuals and it will be back to business as usual. It may happen that those who lost their love ones in that misfortune will end up not getting any form of compensation. It might turn out that Nigerian employees of the same company will continue to work in the same cruel and unsafe conditions with no provision made to guide against such accidents in future. That is Nigeria for you; it is a sad country.

Tochukwu Ezukanama writes from Lagos, Nigeria.

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