ENSLAVEMENT OF NIGERIAN WORKERS............ A Case of AIRTEL NIGERIA.

In an unjust society silence is a crime. It is on the basis of this maxim that I deem it fit to call the attention of all to the enslavement going on in the private sector employment process. Indigenous companies started it and foreign companies aided by Nigerians have taken clues from them.

The labour crisis between Customer Service Agents of Airtel Nigeria and the company has brought to the fore what Nigerian workers are going through in the name of getting a job, not being lazy and making a livelihood legitimately. Priviledge

Since the 8th of July 2011, the Customer Service Agents of Airtel Nigeria have down tools and locked up the company offices in Lagos and Abuja citing poor working conditions as reason for their action. The poor working conditions according to the staff includes the cancellation of their National Health Insurance Scheme, increase in working hours and days, arbitrary reduction in salary, discriminating policy against pregnant women among others.

The case of Airtel Nigeria staff came to limelight because the staff have been stretched to the limit, just like the proverbial goat has been pushed to the wall and as such had to turn to its assailant, Airtel Nigeria. If these Customer Service Agents have not spoken out and embarked on industrial action, their plight would have remained unnoticed.


What exactly is the problem? The problem is not with Airtel Nigeria, it is an insidious system which allows too many chains of middlemen in the recruitment process. Outsourcing or Consulting firms are directly responsible for the inhuman treatment of private sector workers Nigeria. They collaborate with the direct employers of labour to enslave Nigerians. From the banking to the insurance, oil and gas and telecommunication sectors of the Nigerian economy, companies employ less than 25% of their total workforce directly. In the case of Airtel Nigeria, we have two companies between Airtel Nigeria and the Customer Service Agents.

From gathered reports, Airtel Nigeria has contracted Airtel Call Centre, Iganmu to Tech Mahindra. Tech Mahindra also contracted three companies namely HR Index, Bezaleel and CCSNL to recruit staff for the call centre. Tech Mahindra has however claimed that the Airtel Customer Service Agents are neither its employees nor that of Airtel Nigeria but staff of the aforementioned Consulting/Outsourcing firms. Invariably, except the Federal Government through the Ministry of Labour or the National Assembly intervenes aggressively, the Agents could at best be fighting an already lost battle.

It is important that necessary regulatory frameworks are put in place to protect Nigerians from exploitation and enslavement by employers through outsourcing firms. Most of these consulting firms make Nigerians pay for forms for jobs that are not available, conduct interviews and tell job applicants to be checking from time to time after collecting fees ranging from N2, 000 to N5, 000 from them. The Government need to look into the activities of these outsourcing firms. They are exploiting unsuspecting Nigerian graduates, they send unsolicited sms(s), if they are able to get placement for job candidates, they share from the candidate’s salary on monthly basis.

The Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity and Nigerian Labour Congress have waded into the Airtel Nigeria Customer Service Agents and Airtel Nigeria Management face-off and I hope that an amicable agreement that will lead to an improved work conditions for the Agents will be worked out soon. However, there is an urgent need for the Government to be proactive as the situation is not peculiar to Airtel Customer Service Agents alone. There should be an enabling law that will guide third party recruitments so that employees will not be subject of exploitation by both employers and consulting firms.

INJUSTICE TO ONE IS INJUSTICE TO ALL

ALUTA CONTINUA VICTORIA ASERTA

@leggie,u r write. I pray God to help us. Enough is enough to INJUSTICE.

ALL LEBANESSE/INDIAN COMPANIES AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS OWNED BY THESE MERCILESS PEOPLE(THAT IS THE INDIANS IS JUST THE SAME!I HOPE THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT WILL DO SOMETHING UNLESS OTHERS WILL TAKE A CLUE FROM THERE,Thanks for bringing up these issue.Imagine I went for an interview with one of these indian companies and was told after I rejected their salary offer by the indian man that interviewed me that there's no where else I can get something higher than what he offered me because (they the)indians have colonised Nigeria's TELECOM INDUSTRY.THAT DAY,I WEPT FOR MY DEAR COUNTRY!But just as you said ALLUTA CONTINUA!VICTORY IS SUREEEEE!

like i hv always said whenever i hv d opportunity,it is we nigerians dat teach foreigners d wrong method& we nigerians are also d same set of pple dat provide coverups for the foreigner's rubbish. Things dat can never be done abroad,these foreigners enter Nigeria, and do them wit ease,later Nigerians start lamenting.Well if i were part of agrieved staff, i would construct a nice letter concerning this issue to the most read national dallies in Nigeria(though wit another identity),2get an even faster result.No company likes its dirty linen washed in d public.

Chinese, lebanesse, korea, india, and their likes are d WORST set of employer u can think of. They make billion and pay peanut to those dat mak d money 4 them. Wönder why our leaders are still bringin them to this country. I feel sad each time i hear them coming to invest here. I dont blame them but blame our leader who thinks only about d money they want to collect from them but think less of d nigerians that they will enslave. Pls let keep talking and exposing them.

Is not only foreign companies ooooo, banks like finbank, fcmb diamond stanbic ibtc standard chartered are really enslaving graduates paying them 25-30,000 without any benefits oooo. Nigerian youths is time to cry out enuf is enuf.

Monkey dey work, Baboon dey chop.
The funny thing about this whole thing is that these underpaid guys does the bulky job.
God please save Nigerian graduates from this modern day slavery.

I pray GOD save us all.

We really need to raise the bar of fairness in our industrial practise. please cant we think of kidnapping some top notch so that our agitations can sail safely. these foreign employers are sad commentary on fairness and we need to sweep out the cobwebs of enslavement, neo-colonialism and imperialism that has gained dominance in our undulating economic landscape,Nigerian graduates can no longer be led like a strayed animal to the slaughter slab of economic albatross. wish us goodluck in this noble pursuit.

hahahahaha,thats not an option prof salvage ...prayer answereth all lets kip prayn that God gives us our Job...........this enslavement is 2 much

So how much do they pay the agents?

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Originally Posted by agalimojo

So how much do they pay the agents?

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Hummm! interestin issue on ground 4 we live in a corrupt society where d rich are gettin richer&d poor poorer. Nigeria economic policies & labor law has alot 2 do in eradicatin all these abnormalities. But my fellow forum members some Nigerian's in arm of affairs n also CEO/Chairman re self centred & wicked mostly some of dis 'half bake recruitment agent' 4 God wil visit their generations wit curses. Dis is one of d reason y am sick of workin 4 private organisation 4 thny want more frm u but they de-motivate u wit their low pay package& they expect u 2 revered them lik God becos they feel they give u livehood. GOD HELP US!!!

I wonder wat d nigerian labour congress is doing about all dis corporate and industrial enslavement of nigerian workers. God should save us from the hands of wicked employers. Holy Ghost FIRE

Enslavement of Nigerians by most of these foreign firms is no longer NEWS!
We already know this exist so we need to concentrate on the way to eradicate it as time goes on.
One can not blame these so-called employers especially when they have the support of powerful big-wigs in Nigeria. Try taking a look at the list of their Board members and you'll find that they have all cleverly made top Nigerians their "Chairman" with at least 2 other perceived powerful Nigerian as members of the board. The whole idea is to have someone who can save their neck when issues like this crop up. Be that as it may, it is equally Nigerians they employ as "managers" and use to perpetrate their evil act of enslavement. If this so called Nigerians cared about other Nigerians, no Indian, Lebanese, Chinese, Korean etc will ever attempt to treat Nigerians the way they currently do.
Nigerian firms have also taken a cue from them - all in the name of "cost reduction".
Nigerians (with due respect) are cowards when it comes to issues like this. No one wants to get hurt but expect things like this enslavement to just disappear because "we have committed it to God".
The earlier we realize that: "God will not Do For Man, What Man Can Do For Himself" the better!
Maybe if Nigerian workers engaged by these set of "Slave Masters" begin to cry out with one voice for the whole world to hear, things will get better.
There are channels with which this can be done - NGOs, Print and Electronic Media, Human Rights Groups etc.
We need to make a move, then God will sure give his support - as long as it's a just course!

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Originally Posted by agalimojo

So how much do they pay the agents?

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I like dis question...its not about the salary guys cos these guys are paid better than some/most companies. Some earn 74k, some 85k some 100k...depending on when u entered.I appreciate the agitation for better welfare but trust me, d way some of dis agents carry on with the work, i wonder if they believe they are doing a favour or bei ng done a favour.Trust me, I know first hand that many of them have a wrong attitude to the work.
I shall submit by saying "no matter how wicked your boss is, if u are diligent and productive, u will be valued...THE WORD OF GOD SAYS DID "SEETH THOU A MAN DILIGENT IN HIS WORK, HE WILL STAND BEFORE KINGS AND NOT MEAN MEN, also another says "THE GIFTINGS OF A MAN SHALL MAKE ROOM FOR HIM"
I SUBMIT

@azelin i like the food you gave us to ponder. but the case of Lebanese, i am a witness to that. don't wish your enemies to experience that. though i am in a multinational coy now but i started from there. the memory is not a good one.