Though Nigeria’s economy is yet to fully recover from the 2015 recession, young Beninese immigrants seem not to mind. For them, any life away from the extreme hardship back at home has to be good enough. ‘Kunle ADEBAJO reports.

GYAUME Gohoundgi had to drop out of primary school after his father passed away in 2003. One in 10 Beninese children reportedly has lost one or both parents, thus orphans are found almost everywhere, especially in impoverished towns such as Zakpota where Gohoundgi lived. And, like others, the 12-year-old had no one to help with his school fees or even daily upkeep. Then he saw a path that held the promise of survival and financial stability. That path led to Nigeria.

Despite his young age, Gohoundgi travelled to Nigeria the following year, hoping to acquire skills that could help him earn a living. He spent the next four years at a tailoring shop in Ibara-Orile, Abeokuta, learning all there was to know about the trade. Then, when he discovered that he needed capital to establish his own business, he got a motorcycle on hire-purchase and ventured into okada-riding to raise money.

Fortunately, he had two elder brothers already in Nigeria working as commercial motorcyclists as well as manual labourers on farms and quarries. Finally, in 2017, he returned to Zakpota and set up his own tailoring business, Goodness Couture.

Today, 28-year-old Gohoundgi has four young apprentices. Not only is he transferring his skills, he also has to feed three of them who otherwise have no means of fending for themselves.

Seeing someone like Gohoundgi return from Nigeria with good clothes, a motorcycle, and sizeable amount of money, many children in Zakpota also long for a chance to try their luck in Nigeria.

“We are trying to get some of my juniors in school, but they say they want to go to Nigeria,” Gohoundgi says, sitting cross-legged under a tree shade somewhere in Zakpota as three of his apprentices and other children stand around him.

“I tell them our people in Nigeria are working really hard; they are suffering. A brother of mine spent numerous years in Nigeria, but when he got back, he didn’t come with anything. If I didn’t learn a skill in Nigeria and I’d ventured in farm work or quarry work, I would have had to start afresh.”

But such counsel fails to discourage many young people in Zakpota.

Life is tough for the average Beninese child. Despite making primary education free in 2007 and recording improvements in enrolment, nearly half a million (39 per cent of) children are still excluded from primary education, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. Especially in low-income communities like Zakpota, engaging children in hard labour is a norm. Provisions of Benin’s Labour and Child Codes stipulating 14 years as the minimum age for work nonetheless, 21 per cent of children aged between five and 14 have been found to work as adults while 16.3 per cent are combining work with schooling.

Every year, hundreds of children are trafficked to Nigeria. Unlike Gohoundgi, most of them are used as domestic helps, street vendors, or are forced to work on remote farmlands and quarries. The trend has continued even though working in Nigeria is not as profitable as it was in the past.

In 2015, according to exchange rate figures provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria, one could exchange N3,260 for 10,000 CFA. But today, to get that same amount, you’ll need over N6,000

READ MORE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/pushed-beyond-borders-2/

Nigeria will rise again. Africa will rise again.

Goldencheese:
Nigeria will rise again. Africa will rise again.

Akuko n'egwu!

Goldencheese:
Nigeria will rise again. Africa will rise again.

By voting people like Buhari into public offices..

By wasting billions on national assembly and borrowing to pay salaries

Imagine... Nigeria that a lot are finding possible means of leaving...

In the land of blind people, one eyed man is always the king