Togolese are taking away our jobs

Most times, Nigerians are accused of having unusual foreign taste. They are accused of preferring foreign things over local things just because they believe that foreign things give them an air of wealth, class and distinctiveness. This was eternally etched in music by Bright Chimezie in his song, which earned him the soubriquet ‘Okoro Junior’.

In that song, Bright Chimezie laments that he went to a discotheque and requested an African song, but the other guests laughed at him and called him Okoro Junior, a denigrating moniker used to describe a rustic Igbo man.

Nigerian university degrees used to be rated highly before the mid 1980s. Now, they have lost their prestige. Parents now do everything possible to ensure that their children receive university education outside the country.

A similar thing has happened in the health sector. Nigerians — especially the political leaders — prefer to receive medical treatment abroad than in their own country, no matter the degree of the illness. It now seems that only the poor seek medical treatment locally.

Also, until the mid-1980s Nigerian stadiums used to be filled to the brim every weekend when Nigerian football clubs played matches. Also when the national  football team played any match at the National Stadium, a pin dropped in the stadium would find it hard to hit the ground. Nigerian boxers also attracted huge crowds anytime they had a fight in the country. Today, the Nigerian Football League is completely ignored by most Nigerians. Anybody who identifies with the local league is viewed as “a bush person.”

Most Nigerians feel good flaunting their love for an English football club or a European football club. Some even go overboard by killing fans of other clubs when their favourite clubs lose, even though most of them have never left the shores of Nigeria or been to Europe to have any links with the club they are getting paranoid about.

Fortunately, there are some industries or sectors that attract patronage from Nigerians more than their foreign counterparts. Two decades after Bright Chimezie’s song, there was a turnaround in the Nigerian music industry. Nigerian music became the toast of Nigerians. Today, at parties or on air, disc jockeys can play two hours of music featuring only Nigerian music. Even companies that used to bring in American musicians and other non-Nigerian musicians as the main attractions at big events have stopped doing so. Different musical TV channels sprang up with a focus on Nigerian music.

In the movie industry, Nigerian homes and cinemas were dominated by Western and Asian films. There were no Nigerian films until 1992 when NEK Videos produced “Living in Bondage” in Igbo language. That transformed the Nigerian film industry, virtually knocking out foreign movies from Nigerian homes.

Similarly, when it comes to electric cables, made-in-Nigeria cables are preferred to foreign ones, although they are more expensive. Those who are building their residential houses or business premises insist on Nigerian cables, because they are durable and safer. Those who are building for tenants most times resort to imported cables because they are cheaper.

In recent years, Nigerian artisans are losing out to those from Togo and the Republic of Benin. This occurs mainly in the building of houses: masonry, plastering, tiling, fixing of POP, plumbing, and painting. The argument is that when these West African neighbours of ours set blocks, walls are straight and the finishing is clean. When they plaster a house, the window and door edges are as straight as a ruler, while the walls look as if they have been painted. Also, when they lay tiles, they are straight and neatly done. This is said to contrast with the work of their Nigerian counterparts, which is poorly finished: the walls are not straight; the floors are uneven; the window edges are jagged; there are paint stains on windows and doors. Definitely this does not apply to every Nigerian artisan. However, because many Nigerian artisans display this trait, that image is rubbing off on others.

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The summary is that Nigerian artisans are not well trained. Most of those who work as craftsmen learn by working under someone and watching the person. There is no specified length of period for this apprenticeship. It can be one year or two years or more. It can even be as short as three months. An apprentice can fall out with the master and leave to start his own practice. What he needs is someone to give him something to do. There are no standards.

Unlike in most West African countries, where there are functional technical schools for the training of young people in different skills, there are no functional technical institutes owned by Nigeria. The ones that exist have become mere certificate-awarding institutions. There is more emphasis on the theoretical aspect of the work than on the practical aspect. That is why one would graduate from XYZ Technical School or XYZ College of Technology or XYZ Institute of Technology without acquiring any skills in any field. The few functional institutes are owned by individuals or private organisations.

It is, therefore, regrettable that in a country that is facing outrageously high rate of poverty caused by high unemployment rate, citizens of neighbouring countries are coming in and taking away the few available jobs. And fellow Nigerians are not bothered about giving these jobs away because they are more concerned with the quality of the work done for them than with the patriotism of patronising their compatriots. Nobody can blame them for that. Nobody will willingly board an aeroplane that is flown by a mediocre pilot or allow himself to be operated upon by a mediocre surgeon because of patriotism.

No matter how hard things become in Nigeria, people will live in houses, drive cars and motorcycles, wear clothes and shoes, use phones and laptops. These houses need to be built by human beings — the construction of these houses will involve masonry or bricklaying, carpentry or upholstery, roofing, fixing of doors and windows, tiling, plumbing, and painting. People who spend money building these houses will like to get their money’s worth.

Although there are ready-made clothes, many people still want to have their clothes sewn to their taste, design and preferred style. They need creative designers and tailors who pay attention to details. Cars, phones and computers will have to be serviced and repaired. The owners do not want these possessions to be destroyed in the name of repairing them. And when they are satisfied, they stick to the person they know and also recommend the person to members of their families and friends.

The federal and state governments should not just fold their arms and pretend as if this is not a problem. The emphasis on the acquisition of degrees has not helped Nigeria in anyway. There is a need to pay serious attention to technical education and create clear standards and certification for artisans in all sectors. That will help to boost the skills of Nigerians in that segment of the economy. It will also equip our youths with the capacity to create jobs rather than looking for jobs.

There are millions of jobs available in these fields. But those who want to take advantage of them must be properly trained; they must pay attention to detail; they must be patient and humble; they must be honest; and they must treat their jobs with seriousness. If that does not happen, our better trained West African neighbours will continue to take away jobs that should be ours, even in our own country.