Two related revelations, a viral video and an X post, set the ever boisterous social media buzzing with literal fire last week. The first was about a Chinese grocery store in the Federal Capital Territory(FCT), Abuja, which penultimate Sunday hit the raw nerves of the public for allegedly denying Nigerians access to shop. The store, located at the China General Chamber of Commerce(CGCC), on Airport Road, is said to sell Chinese cuisine and beverages.
The other was a post, reacting to the video on the Chinese supermarket, which unnerved an Indian school in Lagos which does not admit Nigerians.
An unidentified Abuja resident had squealed on the supermarket in a viral video, narrating how he was denied access into the supermarket’s premises and was told that the store was off-limits to Nigerians.
“There is this Chinese supermarket I saw online,” the resident had started in the video. “They have foods and other things. So, I wanted to check it out and when I got there,the security guard told me the supermarket is strictly for Chinese people. If you are a Nigerian, you can’t go in and can’t buy anything,” he lamented.
In a fit of anger, he added: “The supermarket is here in Abuja, Nigeria, and Nigerians can’t enter. This is a joke! This means a Chinese national has more rights than a Nigerian, because they (Chinese) can enter anywhere they want.”
The video sent Nigerians on a short fuse and stirred hoopla on the social media. People were miffed that a foreigner could muster such an audacity to discriminate against Nigerians in their own country! The public outrage generated prompted officials of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission(FCCPC) to visit the offending grocery store the following day and sealed it.
However, the owner of the store, Liu Bei, and the CGCC, through its Secretary, Cui Guangzhend, denied the allegation, claiming that no Nigerian had faced discrimination or been denied entry into the Chinese supermarket located within the Royal Choice Estate on Airport Road, Abuja.
“No individual was subjected to discrimination or denied access to the estate or supermarket to purchase groceries as widely believed,” Guangzhend said, adding: “… our principles are to enhance friendship between the people of both countries and promote economic development.”
Liu Bei, in her own statement, refuted the allegation that her store served only the Chinese, emphasizing that she opened for residents, workers and visitors from the office building, irrespective of nationality.
The denials could be more of a porky because insiders said only Nigerians who are working within the Chinese enclave could access the grocery and shop there. Those outside are not allowed access.
Last Wednesday, however, Liu Bei, the owner of the controversial store, accompanied by her family and the Chinese estate officials appeared before the FCCPC tribunal where the whole brouhaha was resolved and the supermarket was unsealed thereafter.
Last Wednesday, however, Liu Bei, the owner of the controversial store, accompanied by her family and the Chinese estate officials appeared before the FCCPC tribunal where the whole brouhaha was resolved and the supermarket was unsealed thereafter.
As the FCCPC officials were making a short work of the Abuja supermarket matter, another discovery surfaced on the social media. This time, it was about an Indian language school located at Ilupeju, Lagos, accused of denying Nigerians admission.
An X user, reacting to the Abuja episode, had made the revelation about the school. “The Indian school in Ilupeju only admits Indians. You need an Indian passport for enrollment,” the user had said.
He added: “My experience with the Indian international school in Ilupeju dates back to when my school had a debate competition with them in 2009. I discovered that there were only Indian students. I was curious as to why because my school was also an international school and run by a foreign embassy with primarily expatriate kids and few Nigerians. Then, I was informed that their(Indians) passport was a prerequisite for admission.”
He added: “My experience with the Indian international school in Ilupeju dates back to when my school had a debate competition with them in 2009. I discovered that there were only Indian students. I was curious as to why because my school was also an international school and run by a foreign embassy with primarily expatriate kids and few Nigerians. Then, I was informed that their(Indians) passport was a prerequisite for admission.”
His post sparked another round of outbursts and vituperations on social media from evidently insensed Nigerians who condemned another discriminatory practice from the Asian community in Nigeria.
Already, the Lagos State Ministry of Education is to investigate the circumstances that warrant the discriminatory admission policy.
It is highly irksome and repugnant that the Asians are obviously taking undue advantage of Nigeria’s genial disposition to discriminate against their hosts in their own country. These are practices that can never be contemplated, let alone condoned in their home- countries.
However, the supermarket and school episodes are infinitesimal compared to the level of exploitation Nigerians, especially young, working age men are subjected to in many companies owned by the Chinese and Indians in Nigeria.
The International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) has done extensive work in this area through sponsored investigations. One of the reports observed that in many of the factories owned by these Chinese and Indian investors, invidious tendencies like low-cost labour, hazardous jobs without workers’ protection, breach of the minimum wage laws, used and dumped syndrome and human rights abuses, among other shenanigans, are the order of the day.
According to the ICIR report, the Asians seem to be taking advantage of the Nigerian weak laws and poor regulatory system to oppress and exploit the Nigerian workers in their companies. Most of the young Nigerian workers are usually casualised and are not staffed even after working for many years. As casual workers, all they get is peanuts. They are not paid allowances and other staff benefits accruable to normal workers.
They are made to work in risky ventures such as operating factory machines without much of training. They are also not provided with basic Personal Proctetive Equipment(PPEs) such as helmets, safety boots and vests, even when they are engaged in risky ventures. They are, therefore, vulnerable to avoidable bodily harm, physical and emotional injuries.
There are countless instances of work-related hazards such as when they sustain bodily injuries and lose limbs and fingers. All some of the inveterate, callous Asian bosses do is to pick the victims’ hospital bills. They do not pay compensation in many of such instances. And if the victims are rendered permanently immobile by the work-related accidents, they are simply dumped and the story ends there.
The case of a casual worker, James, invokes pity. He was said to have died while working with a Chinese quarry firm in Kobape area of Ogun State. Those who knew him said his death could have been avoided if he had been provided with a helmet, one of the PPEs recommended for hazardous jobs of his kind.
Another casual worker, John, working with another Chinese quarry company almost lost his life to an avoidable accident in the course of his work. A big stone was said to have fallen on him while operating a crusher machine.
As usual, he was abandoned to fate by his bosses. It took the intervention of the Nigerian Union of Mine Workers for the firm to pick his medical bills at the Federal Medical Centre, Idi-Aba, Abeokuta, Ogun State. He was not paid any allowance( being a casual worker), neither was he paid any remuneration while his travail lasted.
Yet, the accident could at least have been minimized if he had been provided with a helmet and other relevant PPEs to ensure safety in such a risky working environment as a quarry firm. John and hundreds of thousands of young Nigerians working in Chinese and Indian factories go through these horrendous experiences with foreign bosses who treat them virtually as slaves in their own country.
These are risible tendencies that successive Nigerian governments have condoned for too long. Yet, the Asian investors’ failure to provide PPEs for workers in factories glaringly contravenes the National Policy on Occupational Safety and Health of Nigeria. Section 5.3 (iii) of the policy mandates all employers to “provide at no cost to the worker occupational health protection and personal protective clothing and equipment, which are appropriate for the nature of the job.” But nobody is doing anything about this breach.
The nation appears to be losing from two ends because apart from exploiting young Nigerian workers who endure the punishing enslavement owing to the nation’s unemployment situation, many of these Asian firms, according to reports, hardly pay taxes to government’s coffers. The statistics is unavailable of how many of them are in the tax net, but they are mostly to be very few.
Observers point to the shadowy nature of these Asian firms. Many of them are tucked away in dingy back streets of our cities. In most cases, they are not easily visible, as they do not erect or install identification markers such as signposts and signboards, which should ordinarily show direction to their firms. This makes it difficult for tax officials to capture them for enumeration.
Besides, many of these companies corral undue privileges by appointing highly placed Nigerians into their boards as directors and chairmen believed to be shielding them against reprimand and reproach.
Government is also believed to be condoning the excesses of the Asians, especially the Chinese, because of the economic relationship between both countries. China has in the last few years doled out many loans to Nigeria for infrastructural developments in road and rail constructions. Many Chinese engineers are also physically involved in many of these road and rail projects cross-crossing the country.
That is, however, beside the point. It is time we asserted our sovereignty as a nation. Whichever way it is viewed, it is most repugnant and mind-boggling for the Asians to ride roughshod over us the way they are doing on our own soil just because their country is sort of a benefactor to our country. Where is our pride as a nation?
It is time we told them to toe the path of rectitude or be shown the doorway. They have had their cup full. Their exploitative tendencies on our soil must stop now!
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