Tales Of Hardship As More Construction Workers Suffer Job Losses

Tales Of Hardship As More Construction Workers Suffer Job Losses
Agbo-Paul Augustine
— Nov 7, 2015 6:38 am | Leave a comment
With over 60, 000 workers placed under redundancy, Nigeria’s construction industry is faced with untold hardship and deaths as months without a job have made life a hell. AGBO PAUL AUGUSTINE spoke to some of them and reports.
As Michael Adeka welcomed LEADERSHIP Weekend into his one room apartment in the crowded Masaka settlement in Karu local government area of Nasarawa State about 18 kilometres from Abuja, it was evident that the family of six are in dire straits.
It’s heart-wrenching to look at 2 year old Alice who is obviously malnourished. Four of Adeka’s children are out of school, but topmost on the mind of the struggling father is where the next meal would come from for his family.
“Since I was placed under redundancy five months ago my life has never been the same; it has been one challenge after the other. As a father it is heartbroken to see your family suffer because of your inability to provide for them,” Adeka lamented.
Adeka is one of the tens of thousands of construction workers axed down by Nigeria’s construction firms on the grounds that monies from government contracts stopped flowing after President Muhammadu Buhari took over power on May 29, 2015.
For Suleiman Danboyi, 39, relocating to his home town in Shinkafi in Zamfara State appeared a better option than the daily reality of staying jobless. The truck driver told LEADERSHIP Weekend that he has transversed the nooks and crevices of Abuja in search of a job without success.
“I think going back to my village is better for me at this time because I have been begging people to feed my family. In my village I don’t have to go cap in hand to survive,” Danboyi said.
Danboyi, like other affected workers told LEADERSHIP Weekend that the inability of his employer to sustain his monthly salary of N65, 000 warranted his sack from the company.
One common thread among all the men who spoke to LEADERSHIP Weekend is the survival of their immediate families in the trying times of no income. Some of the workers now rely on the small trading by their wives and hand outs from relations and friends to stay afloat.
The mass sack of workers in the construction industry is evident in the nation’s capital, Abuja. The familiar features of Abuja roads in the mornings and evenings have now disappeared, giving way to regular traffic.
Abuja roads are known for heavy traffic characterised by the presence of trucks hauling construction workers from their bases in satellite towns such as Masaka, Mararaba in Nasarawa State, Nyanya, Karimu, Gwagwa, Dei Dei, Bwari, Gwgwalada and Zuba. Others come from Suleija and Tafa in Niger State, respectively.
The trucks over the years have somewhat become icons in Abuja, giving new comers the impression of job availability in the nation’s capital.
Peter Ocholi, a civil servant told LEADERSHIP Weekend that he just realised a few days ago that the construction workers trucks have all gone.
“If actually all those thousands of workers transported by these firms are all out of work then it is a disaster in the labour force of Nigeria. That number of Nigerians without job is not a good thing for the society,” Ocholi lamented.
Cab driver, Wale Dada, who saw the trucks as threats in the past because of the overbearing attitude of some of the drivers says, ‘though the roads are free of their presence, the fact that people are out work is sad.”
Only a few construction trucks were sighted by LEADERSHIP Weekend on the busy Abuja-Keffi highway, leading to relatively free flow of traffic at about 5:30 pm on Tuesday.
LEADERSHIP Weekend findings revealed that over 60, 000 construction workers have been placed under redundancy as a result of the lack of payment from government on projects around the country.
When LEADERSHIP Weekend took a tour of some critical infrastructure projects in Abuja, all but the Abuja monorail project have been deserted by construction companies.
The China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), handling the Abuja rail project LEADERSHIP Weekend investigations reveal, is not affected by funding because parts of the construction cost is funded by the Chinese Exim bank.
Also not spared in the abandonment are the gateway projects like the Abuja airport road project were visitors as well as local motorists are forced to take a long diversion before heading to the capital city.
The situation has turned the abandoned Abuja-Lokoja highway motorists’ new nightmare. The several diversions with little or no signage have caused more accidents with dozens of deaths and injuries. Several drivers often get confused on which is dual and single lane drives.
Speaking to LEADERSHIP Weekend on the matter, assistant general secretary, National Union of Civil Engineering Construction, Furniture and Wood Workers (NUCECFWW) Comrade Nnamdi Ibe said Abuja alone has seen over 20, 000 construction workers sacked within the last few months.
“Many of our members have left Abuja after losing their jobs owing to the inability of government to pay their employers for works done and ongoing. The situation is very pathetic,” Ibe said.
Giant construction firm, Julius Berger Nigeria, LEADERSHIP Weekend learnt has sacked over 10, 000 staff for the same reason. The company is said to be working with a lean staff strength of about 2,500.
A source within the federal ministry of works who spoke to LEADERSHIP Weekend said the inability of the federal government to pay the construction firms may not be far from the quest of President Muhammadu Buhari to clean the country of corruption.
“I can tell you that the president is not comfortable with some of the overblown contract sums which were always stuffed with varied interests which must be taken care of,” the source said.
Other experts in the industry averred that the situation is a direct implication of the dwindling revenue of the country which has forced government to prioritise its spending’s.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday in New Delhi, India, admitted that some of the measures he put in place might hurt some businesses in the short term.
However, the president said these measures would sustain the economy on the long run.
In the statement, Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, quoted the president as saying: “We are aware some of these measures may hurt operations of some businesses in the short term, but we believe they are right for a sustainable economy.”
Construction workers must brace up and face to reality that the pains of the moment might just be an alibi for a better working environment in the future.
The out of job worker and hundreds of his colleagues residing in the Masaka area hard hit by the austerity measures of their former employers, have taken to doing other menial jobs to survive while hoping that they would be recalled soon.