We’re dying of hunger, Imo labourers lament 0
BY OUR REPORTER ON APRIL 22, 2015 ORIENTAL NEWS
…[b]Say workers from North, Chad, Niger have taken over sta[/b]te

From GEORGE ONYEJIUWA, Owerri

“We have never had it this bad before because people who need workers always come to this place and hire us, but now we sit here from morning till evening without anybody coming to hire us and most times it is very difficult to transport ourselves back home.”

These were the exact words of Mr. Njoku Cletus, a mason as he lamented the plight of labourers in Imo State.

Menial workers are a common sight around the Owerri metropolis, especially around Mbaise Junction by Douglas and at the popular Ama J.K near the NIPOST office where they always gather everyday waiting and hoping for those who would come to seek their services ranging from plumbing, bricklaying, painting and carpentry.

In the past, these low category itinerant workers find work to do to eke out a living. But ironically while the state appears to be a massive construction site now as new buildings are sprouting up every day, this class of workers is left without works to do.

Oriental News gathered that the majority of the daily itinerant workers have been somewhat driven out of job by the Hausas, Nigeriens and Chadians who were said to agree to take whatever is paid to them by the building contractors in the state.

It was equally said that since the present Governor Rochas Okorocha administration came on board which witnessed a high influx of young men from the North to the state, most of the jobs they used to do are now being given to the Hausas while they are left with nothing to do, making them to wonder how they are going to cater for their various families. This, they said, has reduced most of them to beggars.

According to Ikechukwu Nwaobasi, a mason, “the labourers in almost all the new building sites are either Hausas or those from Chad or Niger and the reasons for hiring them is what we do not know because the majority of them are not professionals.”

He noted that the only reason the contractors preferred the Hausas or those from Chad was simply because they would accept whatever they are paid for a day.

“If you go to any new building site in Owerri, you will discover that the majority of those working there are either Hausas or those from Niger and Chad even when they are not as good as we are because the majority of the people you see here are professionals; and when you come here and tell us what you want, whether it is painting, plumbing, bricklaying or carpentry work we will charge appropriately and if you accept our price we will go with you to the place do it to your satisfaction.

“But I think that the contractors simply hire the Hausa and Chad people because they will take whatever they pay them because most of them don’t have families and don’t pay rent and so they can afford to accept anything given to them.”

Speaking in the same vein, Mathew Okereafor noted that even in the Imo State Government House, those usually favoured to carry out jobs are those from the North while the natives are never considered for such opportunities.

“We are suffering in this state because even in the Government House if there is anything to be done, it is usually the people from the North or Chad while the indigenes are never considered. We have never witnessed this kind of thing before. Even those who mend the roads in the state are usually those from the North and we are wondering if we are not supposed to enjoy our own state,” he lamented.

Chief Adike Nnaji, one of the building contractors, who spoke with Oriental News, said the reason most contractors prefer to hire either Hausa or the Chadians was because they would do the work according to specification.

“When they are complaining of not being hired for work, the reason behind that is that most of them are simply lazy and would not do as told. You must realize that when you hire a worker for a day’s job that work must be completed that very day but in most cases they will not be able to as instructed either because they know you. But give the same work to the Hausa man and he will do whatever he is asked to do without complaining, so you now see the difference,” he said.

He said that the people just want money without working for it, noting that as a businessman, he would only engage those who would be willing to work.

“I had engaged one of my kinsmen to fix five doors on the new building that I was handling; could you imagine that it took him almost two weeks to do that and each day, he will give an excuse but in the next project that I handled I called a man from Kwara State and in a week the entire doors of the entire house were fixed. So, when you see most of them on Douglas Road or at Ama JK it’s because people have discovered that they are lazy people,” he said.http://sunnewsonline.com/new/?p=115838

Odiegwu Ooooo!


Imo State have become the prodigal son of the SS AND SE, all because of Rochas and Jega desperation to rig our State.


Give us our state, give us our imo now. lalasticlala fp

I thought they said the Notherners love dirty Jobs? Why are the now lamenting when surferness has already stretch to their elastic limit.

Trekking to South AFRICA ... i will comment when i comes back

Rochas okoroji we're watching.

Just don't kill them ala south Africa

It's called competition. You just have to repackage your offering.


But wait...dont nairaland Igbos tell us everyday that they are superhuman and super hardworking God's chosen people and that other Nigerians are simply lazy


Now we know it's all nonsense - they cant stand the heat when the competition gets tough.

IMO is no man's land, deal with it

Since an hausa man is governor what do you expect?

now dey are complaining. when dia brodas were claiming lagos, simply because dey get jobs there. dey call it a no mans land. nd dat dey build lagos.

The northerners are wiser.......
They charge less and get ur sh*t done
And besides





Imo is nobodies land

Same thing in Lagos. The Nigeriens and Chadians are doing same menial jobs and they are seen to be very hardworking despite paying them little amount. It is not perculiar to Imo State.
Why blame it on Rochas? Was it Rochas that brought them to Imo State?

they should stop crying foul and work harder by bringing down their own price for labour too!

Sweetguy25:
Since an hausa man is governor what do you expect?

it has nothing to do with rochas..i know those labourers well especially at ama jk..for sometime now people have not being engaging them as they used to because they are falling shot of expectation and this trend started around fifteen yrs ago..they simply have to repackage...personally I know I would not engage them

A more reason why you guys should vote rochas out.

Hehehehehe

Rochas!

Hahaha... Abokee man go buy something #100 sell am #80. U go begin wonder if the guy na philantropist.

The indigent labourers should step up their game. I sympathise with them though but they need to look inward. As for mending of the Government House and Public road, I thinkk government should take it as a responsibility to ensure that indigens are preferred to such jobs before anyone else(all things being equal tho)

IMO State is now the sick man of the whole Alaigbo.


Very soon they will start having blood diseases, as well as disable people.

kastonkastrol:
lol I thought our brothers across the niger don't do menial jobs. I thought they all work in big companies and open-up big businesses.

Yes they do menial jobs and raise capital to go into business unlike your people that lazy around depending on govt to spoon feed them. Or waiting for white collar jobs. And of course when that doesn't happen, you start blaming Igbos for your frustration

So you think business capital falls from trees abi? While he's at that laborer job, he'll be saving or investing in other businesses. That's what makes him different

Now go back n Check out that same Igbo laborer a few years from now.
But a few years from now, you may still be sitting your lazy ass behind your keyboard whining about Igbos.

iscoli:
now dey are complaining. when dia brodas were claiming lagos, simply because dey get jobs there. dey call it a no mans land. nd dat dey build lagos.

^^^Nobody is telling anyone to leave! After all, it's the same Igbos that are preferring these northerners and giving them jobs over and above their kinsmen! The Imo indigenous laborers need to do a little introspection and find out why they're being rejected for northerners!

Having said that, i do know northerners/chadians/Nigeriens are a hardy bunch!

I also thought every SE person ran importation business worth tens of millions and they all lived in mansions in the East unlike our brown - roof houses in the SW.


People should stop deceiving themselves.

Nigerians of all shades are succeeding and also sadly, thieving politicians are denying too many hardworking ordinary people from all regions the opportunity to lift themselves out of subsistence living.

The focus should be on putting pressure on these unimaginative politicians to come up with new ideas to spread prosperity to all Nigerians.

Imo people sssh. Mechionu. This is your change, you voted for change so stop crying.

All this APC state ppl keep disturbing the media on how hungry they are.
Wetin be dis? Taah imo state. Sharrup and Enjoy your "Change".

SLIDEwaxie:
IMO is no man's land, deal with it

That is true. Noticed that in Anambra too. Atleast this puts to rest the charge that the east is hostile to foreign workers. The east is not hostile to anybody, just that in certain job caders, there already exist an overdose of talents. While other areas are still open to competition as we can see here. Agbo sellers (with your hard-earned pedigree on this board, you properly fit in here) are still enjoying their monopoly, likewise the maiguards, cobblers and meat sellers. . If you want to farther than that, you should be ready to compete. You should also bear in mind that ruthless competition that is the case here is not tribal hostility.

TOO many people from Niger and Chad and North in the east. They will soon start Boko haram bombing. Imo will be worst hit, thanks to Rochas.


The number of Northerners in the east are more than igbos in the North, if u count. Almost all the villas have northern security men.

asha80:
it has nothing to do with rochas..i know those labourers well especially at ama jk..for sometime now people have not being engaging them as they used to because they are falling shot of expectation and this trend started around fifteen yrs ago..they simply have to repackage...personally I know I would not engage them

You're very right. There are very few Igbo labourers who are willing to work hard like there hausa counterparts. The house my brother is building is filled with these same hausa labourers. They are so hard working that sometimes I think they're machines.
The northerners have cheap manual labor in plenty than any other zone in Nigeria.

I was just being mischievous about Rochas.

Hahaha!! Why are they crying?? Imo is a no man's land na. They should even reward these hard working Hausas that are building Imo State with the deputy governor position.

mrmetoo1:
Hahaha!! Why are they crying?? Imo is a no man's land na. They should even reward these hard working Hausas that are building Imo State with the deputy governor position.

Shattap IMO is a village never a city of former state capital. U can compare it to places like Kano, Maduguri and Ekiti. fool!

owobokiri:

That is true. Noticed that in Anambra too. Atleast this puts to rest the charge that the east is hostile to foreign workers. The east is not hostile to anybody, just that in certain job caders, there already exist an overdose of talents. While other areas are still open to competition as we can see here. Agbo sellers (with your hard-earned pedigree on this board, you properly fit in here) are still enjoying their monopoly, likewise the maiguards, cobblers and meat sellers. . If you want to farther than that, you should be ready to compete. You should also bear in mind that ruthless competition that is the case here is not tribal hostility.

The Hausas like the Igbos are willing to scourge the surface of the earth for survival while some group only lazily find solace in Lagos and are too shy to move out of their comfort zone for survival. They end up blaming the Igbos for their misfortunes just like the Zulus

waternopassgari:


Shattap IMO is a village never a city of former state capital. U can compare it to places like Kano, Maduguri and Ekiti. fool!

LMAO!! Don't worry the Hausas there will help in building it into a city.

Eeyah..

MzJackBaueress:
Same thing in Lagos. The Nigeriens and Chadians are doing same menial jobs and they are seen to be very hardworking despite paying them little amount. It is not perculiar to Imo State.
Why blame it on Rochas? Was it Rochas that brought them to Imo State?

they should stop crying foul and work harder by bringing down their own price for labour too!

This thread makes no sense to me. They themselves have said that the reason why the Hausa labourers are preferred is because they take whatever pay they are given.

Can these labourers do the same?