“The pay is too much, they live with their parents” — How Nigerian supervisors advised Lebanese boss to slash wages by half

Young Nigerian man narrates his experience working as a factory worker and how his fellow countryman, the supervisors, advised a Lebanese boss to slash wages.

This comes following the viral interview of a Nigerian YouTuber, Emdee Tiamiyu with the BBC where he stated that “Nigerians only use student visa route for the betterment of their lives but not for the education.”

According to a Twitter user identified as @CRawkeen, their supervisors did something close by sabotaging their wages from 8K to 4K with claims of it being too high.

In his words;

“When I finished secondary school and awaiting admission, I was working at one Lebanese company. They were paying about 8k per week or thereabout. One supervisor, a Nigerian man went to tell the Lebanese guys that all of us still live with our parents and the wage was too much.

You see, when they say you should pray against every principality and power, they’re referring to your fellow Nigerians. Weeks later, the Lebanese people dropped the wage to, I think,4k every two weeks, which amounts to 8k per month. The supervisors had their salaries increased It was really funny then.

These supervisors that are Nigerians also join the Lebanese guys to further exploit Nigerian workers. I’m trying to remember a Marxist term that describes them but I think I can wrap it around something like “Lumpenbourgeoisie” or “comprador bourgeoisie”.

You know, we are both suffering and working under a not so good condition but because you’re called supervisors, you’re more closer to the bourgeoisies. As a result, you help them further their interest by co-exploiting your fellow Nigerians and blocking their way up-to your own advantage.

It makes the Lebanese guys see them as loyalists, increase their weekly or monthly bonuses, recommend them for bigger positions and the likes.

You should be able to see a nexus between the activities of these supervisors and Emdee Tiamiyu. If you make a Nigerian the prime minister of UK today, he could even block every possible way for Nigerians to secure admission to any UK university not to mention relocating to the UK.

We are great people but among us, we have the extraordinarily unfortunate ones.”

When I finished secondary school and awaiting admission, I was working at one Lebanese company. They were paying about 8k per week or thereabout. One supervisor, a Nigerian man went to tell the Lebanese guys that all of us still live with our parents and the wage was too much.

— Babájídé B𝗹𝘂𝗻𝘁 (@CRawkeen) May 24, 2023