“We have never had it this bad before because people who need workers always come to this place and hire us, but now we sit here from morning till evening without anybody coming to hire us and most times it is very difficult to transport ourselves back home.”These were the exact words of Mr. Njoku Cletus, a mason as he lamented the plight of labourers in Imo State.
Menial workers are a common sight around the Owerri metropolis, especially around Mbaise Junction by Douglas and at the popular Ama J.K near the NIPOST office where they always gather everyday waiting and hoping for those who would come to seek their services ranging from plumbing, bricklaying, painting and carpentry.
In the past, these low category itinerant workers find work to do to eke out a living. But ironically while the state appears to be a massive construction site now as new buildings are sprouting up every day, this class of workers is left without works to do.
Oriental News gathered that the majority of the daily itinerant workers have been somewhat driven out of job by the Hausas, Nigeriens and Chadians who were said to agree to take whatever is paid to them by the building contractors in the state.
It was equally said that since the present Governor Rochas Okorocha administration came on board which witnessed a high influx of young men from the North to the state, most of the jobs they used to do are now being given to the Hausas while they are left with nothing to do, making them to wonder how they are going to cater for their various families. This, they said, has reduced most of them to beggars.
According to Ikechukwu Nwaobasi, a mason, “the labourers in almost all the new building sites are either Hausas or those from Chad or Niger and the reasons for hiring them is what we do not know because the majority of them are not professionals.”
He noted that the only reason the contractors preferred the Hausas or those from Chad was simply because they would accept whatever they are paid for a day.
“If you go to any new building site in Owerri, you will discover that the majority of those working there are either Hausas or those from Niger and Chad even when they are not as good as we are because the majority of the people you see here are professionals; and when you come here and tell us what you want, whether it is painting, plumbing, bricklaying or carpentry work we will charge appropriately and if you accept our price we will go with you to the place do it to your satisfaction.
“But I think that the contractors simply hire the Hausa and Chad people because they will take whatever they pay them because most of them don’t have families and don’t pay rent and so they can afford to accept anything given to them.”
Speaking in the same vein, Mathew Okereafor noted that even in the Imo State Government House, those usually favoured to carry out jobs are those from the North while the natives are never considered for such opportunities.
“We are suffering in this state because even in the Government House if there is anything to be done, it is usually the people from the North or Chad while the indigenes are never considered. We have never witnessed this kind of thing before. Even those who mend the roads in the state are usually those from the North and we are wondering if we are not supposed to enjoy our own state,” he lamented.
Chief Adike Nnaji, one of the building contractors, who spoke with Oriental News, said the reason most contractors prefer to hire either Hausa or the Chadians was because they would do the work according to specification.
“When they are complaining of not being hired for work, the reason behind that is that most of them are simply lazy and would not do as told. You must realize that when you hire a worker for a day’s job that work must be completed that very day but in most cases they will not be able to as instructed either because they know you. But give the same work to the Hausa man and he will do whatever he is asked to do without complaining, so you now see the difference,” he said.
He said that the people just want money without working for it, noting that as a businessman, he would only engage those who would be willing to work.
“I had engaged one of my kinsmen to fix five doors on the new building that I was handling; could you imagine that it took him almost two weeks to do that and each day, he will give an excuse but in the next project that I handled I called a man from Kwara State and in a week the entire doors of the entire house were fixed. So, when you see most of them on Douglas Road or at Ama JK it’s because people have discovered that they are lazy people,” he said.
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