What a coincident, i was actually googling for "german companies in nigeria" when i came across this thread (first result). Actually, i still have the urge of going back to nigeria for some years.

@Martins00
Man Man, du nimmst die Sache aber ein Bißchen zu persönlich. Stimmt ich habe es selbst damals nicht glauben können, dass die mir sowas anboten, aber das ist nun mal die Realität. Genug Deutsch geschrieben. Ich ruf dich auch gerne an, falls du immer noch am zweifeln bist.[/i]

Translation:
Man,  You really take this stuff a little bit too personal. Truly, i couldn´t believe it myself, that they were offering me that amount, but that´s the reality. Enough of writing in German. I´ll gladly call you, if u´re still in doubt.

I hope this mail correspondence will help you have a good sleep in future,  . Michael L was then the executive head of Human Resources Sales and Information of the company which has  12,800 employees in over 170 countries. So i don't really believe he was so inexperience. Damn it, how naiv was i. I was evening trying to give them logical arguments why 500€ is not enough. 

i deleted some personal information because i don't know the regulations of posting mail contents in inet, if anyone is interested in it, i might pm it.

Sehr geehrter Herr L Bleep,

Wie telefonisch besprochen sende ich Ihnen die Gesichtspunkte, die ich bei meiner Gehaltsvorstellung berücksichtigt habe. Ich glaube Sie werden dadurch meine Gehaltsvorstellung nachvollziehen können.

Ich freue mich darauf, wenn wir auf einem gemeinsamen Nenner kommen können. Schicken Sie mir bitte wie vereinbart, eine Bestätigung beim Erhalt dieser Email.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen
Bleep



Attached document:

    Berücksichtigte Gesichtspunkte

Wohnung: Nigeria ist ein sehr unsicheres Land. Es gibt jedoch bestimmte Gegenden, wie zum Beispiel Victoria Island und Ikoyi, wo eine gewisse Sicherheit gewährleistet ist. Daraus ist zu schließen, dass Wohnungen in diesen Gegenden sehr teuer sind. Ich habe in Erfahrung gebracht, dass die Miete dort für eine 2 Zimmer-Wohnung bis zu 700€ monatlich beträgt.

Steuer: Die Einkommensteuer liegt je nach Gehalt zwischen 15% und 40%

Rentenversicherung: Meine Altersvorsorge ist mir auch sehr wichtig. In Nigeria ist jeder für seine eigene Rentenversicherung zuständig. Nur so ist das beibehalten meines Lebensstandards möglich.

Krankenversicherung: Die Krankenversicherung steht für mich genauso im Vordergrund wie die Rentenversicherung. Der Krankenversicherungsbeitrag eines internationalen Versicherers für Nigeria liegt zur Zeit bei ungefähr 200€. Für gewöhnlich haben viele Arbeitnehmer in Nigeria keine Krankenversicherung und Rentenversicherung. Grund dafür sind die meist niedrigen Löhne.

Investition für das Studium (Bafög): I'm Vergleich zu den Absolventen in Nigeria, ist die Investition für mein Studium sehr hoch. Ein Teil der Investition besteht aus them Bafög. Dieses muss ich monatlich in Raten zurückzahlen.

Strom- und Wasserversorgung: In Nigeria gibt es kein fließend Wasser, was selbstverständlich hier in Deutschland ist. Man muss sich selbst um die Wasserversorgung kümmern. Weiterhin fällt die Stromversorgung zu 60% der Zeit aus. Aus diesem Grund ist es notwendig einen Generator zu besitzen. Der Betrieb der Strom- und Wasserversorgung bringt also auch verhältnismäßig hohe Kosten mit sich.

Mobilität: Der Besitz eines Autos ist für mich notwendig, da es keine öffentlichen Verkehrsmittel wie in Deutschland gibt.

Ich wohne seit 10 Jahren in Deutschland. In dieser Zeit habe ich mir die deutsche Arbeitsmentalität und Professionalität angeeignet. Meine Diplomarbeit habe ich bei Ihnen  mit 1,3 abgeschlossen. Während dieser Zeit in Deutschland habe ich natürlich einen gewissen Lebensstandard erreicht, den ich auch in Nigeria beibehalten möchte. Dieser ist aber nur durch ein gewisses Gehalt, in them die oben genannten Gesichtspunkte sowie die gewöhnlichen Lebenserhaltungskosten berücksichtigt werden, möglich.

Nach sorgfältiger Recherche und Berechnung liegt mein für mich persönlich angemessener Gehaltswunsch bei 3000€ monatlich.

---

Sehr geehrter Herr Bleep,

vielen Dank für die Zusendung der Infos. Ich werde mir die Daten im Laufe
der Woche ansehen und mich nächste Woche wieder bei Ihnen melden.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen
Michael L Bleep

Bitte beachten Sie meine neue eMail Adresse: Bleep@DE.FESTO.COM

Please take notice of my new email address: Bleep@DE.FESTO.COM

Festo AG & Co. KG
Michael L Bleep

Abteilung FH-DS
Leiter Human Resources Sales and Information

Ruiter Straße 82
D - 73734 Esslingen

Tel: ++49 (0) 711-347-4XXX
Fax: ++49 (0) 711-34754-4XXX

puuh so much grammatic errors,  , lol

Sorry, i don't have time to translate it,  but i think martin00 can do it, if you guys ask him. He´s a very good german speaker,  . In short, i was trying to list the reasons (health insurance, housing, security etc.) why i wanted a minimum of 3000€.

The Company i was talking about is http://www.festo.com/cms/de_de/index.htm (or straight to http://www.festo.com/cms/de_de/4957.htm). You can check it out if you like. I didn´t mention the company because i was still negotiationg with them. Some (3or4) months after i refused futher negotiations on the basis of the offer, i got a mail form the HR secretary, that the Position was cancelled due to some internal strategy changes. I guess they coudn´t find a dumb ass, that will study so hard and go back to nigeria earning peanuts, while the company makes millions from his job. I can remember seeing a black guy, the last time i was there. I guess he also decline to accept the offer.

Lets face the facts, they were looking for blacks who they can exploit. If they would have to send a white down there, it will cost them 3 times more than what an engineer would earn in Germany.  I was even prepared to accept the normal engineer wages. i still get angry when ever i think about this company. My would be german boss in Nigeria had the guts to tell me to live at my relatives´ place in lagos. Thats when i told them that i´m not ready to discuss futher on the basis of 500€. One of my friends told me jokingly, that i should have climbed up the table and start mimicking a chimpanzee and ask them if they want me to do more exhibition of their like. Maybe they would have seen how ridiculous the offer was. Back then i was even thinking of calling the press and make it public.

Well, i now have a very good job (aerospace) since 2,5years that i love and to that i earn really good. Nevertheless, i´m still thinking about finding something interessting in nigeria. With my work experience now, i know exactliy what i´m worth. If i should accept any offer, then it must be exactly what a white engineer will get. Nothing less.

So my question, does anyone know where i can find the list of international companies operating in nigeria (excluding oil companies). I can't get hold of it.


EDIT: I reread martin´s post and i think he was confusing what i was offered for nigeria with what i would have gotten in while still in germany. The company actually offered me the normal engineering salary for the first 2years in germany (while taking the training), which i accepted. The problem was that, after the training they only wanted to pay 500€ when i moved to nigeria.

I promised to tell you how it turns out. They are sticking to the 500€ offer, so i rejected it. Than means i´ll be staying in Germany, where i will get a fair and entitled salary for my skills. I also have some Job offer here. Only that Nigeria was my favorite.

I can´t believe that the company is paying their nigerian engineers only 300€. Thats ridiculous and real exploitation. You can check the Lagos surveys at http://www.salaryexpert.com and see for yourself. That`s one of the negative sides of Globalization

@Seun
thanx for your input. Well i can't agree with your argument.  As i´ve written above, the job profile requires someone that studied in germany and even not only abroad. The person will then be supervising the engineers that studied in nigeria. I was told that they did not consider applications coming from nigerian grauduates.

The company is planning to build up a network of branches across nigeria and later in the neighboring countries. That mean at least 8-12 branches in Westafrica with at least 4 in nigeria. The branch in Lagos is just 1year old and they need a skilled engineer (well i´m a fresh graduate) to help build up the branch as well as the network. So i guess the argument that i´m taking away the good jobs is wrong. There will be much more jobs depending on how successful the network is realised by the mentioned engineer.

@whocares
I think i'll survive it, as long as there is enough money. I lived my last 5,5 years in nigeria in a public boarding school. I guess if i can survive those years, i'll survive nigeria. That was a real long term boot camp.

I had a conversation with the HR officer today. I told him that i cannot accept such an offer and mentioned some arguments why its ridiculous. He told me they are ready to negotiate with me, because they are not so experienced in the west africa region. . We agreed that i should send him a written document that justifies my wish. They are also ready to provide a car, the housing and other extras.

After getting some more information, my salary requirement is ~3000Euro/month. I´ll let u know the result of the negotiation

the case about losing the job is not so important. I have a german passport. That means when things go bad, i can always take the next fligt back to germany. I can always get a well paid job in Germany also. The reason i´m so interested in this job, is because i will be the second in charge at the lagos branch and as time goes on, i´ll be heading some other branches that are yet to be opened. That means a lot of responsibility and status and it will be an advantage when i come back to germany. I can never have the opportunity to head a company´s branch in germany.

But all depends on the salary... i doubt it worths it..

I know that living in nigeria is very hard...but if u have enough money, it aint so bad. my problem is the definition "enough"

at least i have some numbers for my negotiation. thanx

@ Greatpeter
Thanx for ur information. I think they are just trying to see how i´ll react on the offer, so that they can save as much as possible. If they cant agree on 1500EUR, then i´ll stay in germany.

The problem is that there are two kinna of contract. expatriat contract and long term contract (10 to 15years). For long term contracts, they usually pay the location conditions. The HR contact was telling me they pay their engineers 300 EUR. Which i can never believe. In germany i will get a net of 2000 EURO ( i have to choice of staying in germany). But they argue that the cost of living in nigeria is very low. My advantage is that, they are only interested in a nigerian that studied in germany because of the quality skills. As an aerospace engineer, i can work at almost any mechanical and engineering company

My decision depends on if i´ll be able to afford my current living standard in nigeria. Only that i don't know the worth of the money in nigeria.

I have an appointment with the HR contact next week, and i´ll never accept such an offer. Noway under 1500EURO

As at now, i´m living in Germany since 10years and have just finished my studies in aerospace engineering. I have been offered a job as sales engineer in a leading position by a German company with a branch in Nigeria. This job offer is for a long term, so that i´ll have to sign my contract with the nigerian branch.

I have been trying to get information on the cost of living in Lagos as well as starting salaries for engineers in Nigeria. But it is very difficult to get such infomation on the inet. I have some questions that are bothering me

1.) Is there a site to get useful information for someone planning to go back to nigeria for job cases
2.) Where can i get the rent prices of apartments? Or do you know how much a monthly rent of 2-3 bedroom apartment costs at a secure area in Lagos?
3.) How much is the usual starting salary for engineers in Lagos. I need these numbers for my orientation when negotiating my salary. ( I was offered 500 EURO. == 87600 Naira per month, which i think is just a bluff). My wish  is however a minimum of 1500 EURO == 258000 Naira. Is this amount reasonable? I would like to keep my living standard in germany over there. How much are these two amounts worth in nigeria? The company has nothing to do with oil.
4.) What should someone consider before moving back to nigeria? Is it reasonable moving back to nigeria after living so long in germany? i left nigeria at the age of 15.


I will be very grateful if i can get useful answers out here. Thanks

segun