I have been associated with the oil industry for sometime now and there is a form on National discrimination going on, which is also perpetuated in other sectors of the Nigerian economy.

I will use the oil industry as a case study because that is one industry I am very conversant with.

You have two men doing exactly the same job in the same office or field locaton. Absolutely the same working conditions, same output. One is an expatriate the other, a Nigerian.

The expatriate is paid $Bleep amount of money monthly while his Nigerian counterpart earns Nxxxx monthly. The expatriate's salary when converted to Naira is at least four times the Nigerian's.

The company they work for earns its income in dollars (most services and products are priced in dollars in the upstream oil sector). Yet, the Nigerian is paid in Naira because he is a Nigerian while the expatriate is paid, alot more, in dollars or Pounds Sterling.

This does not happen in Norway, USA or the UK. In Norway, you as a foreiner can not earn more than a Norwegian doing your kind of job in the same company. Same obtains in the UK, where a Briton is never paid less than a Non-Briton doing comparable work.
I haven't been to the US yet but I believe it is near impossible to import a Non-US citizen into the US to do a job were he will earn more than his American counterpart doing the same type of job.

Why this discrimination in our own country ?

Another case study:
Two Nigerian technicians with one of the foreign oil service companies goes to the UK office of the company for training. They manage to get one month training with a meagre allowance. In the same training, they meet 30 Angolans and 10 Egyptians from the Company's Angola and Egypt offices respectively. They are on a 3 months training.

Why do the Nigerians get only one month training and why only two Nigerians out of the several Nigerians who require training in the Nigerian office of the Company ?

I can come up with several more case studies (like exptriates in wonderful accommodation in Ikoyi and Victoria Island with Chauffeur driven cars and jeeps and Nigerians living in ketu, Ojota, etc struggling with Company staff buses or own cars), but these two I am sure have exposed the trend of events in the Nigerian Upstream Oil Industry and also in most other business sectors where expatriates are involved in Nigeria.

My little guess on why we are discriminated against in our own country are:

1. Our Leaders:
They don't care what happens to those who labour so hard to produce the oil that brings the money they loot. As long as the money comes into the Federation Account who cares about the guys in the field or offices sweating it out

2. Our Leaders again :
The senior Nigerian managers in these companies don't think we deserve to be paid in dollars even though that is the currency of the industry. As long as they, the managers, can keep their postions with the perks of office, they connive with their foreign counterparts to keep the  Nigerian staff underpaid.

3. No laws or legal framework:
Nigeria has no framework for insisting on Nigerians being paid as much or better than their expatriate counterparts, because this is their, Nigerians, country

4. The foreign companies :
They take advantage of our very loose system which enables them to treat Nigerians they way they wish because they know the government won't interfere, there are no legal framework and Nigerians are very poor and desperate for work. They will accept any salary just to survive

5. No Welfare or social security in Nigeria :
Nigerians are desperate for work. Any salary is acceptable as long as one can get a job to do. Nigerians end up earning so muuch less than their expatriate counterparts. The companies know this and they exploit this weakness

6. Finally,Nigerians are not well treated in their own country by fellow Nigerians :
When our government loots us and does not care about our welfare. When our so-called security agencies shoot,main,beat and even kills us for flimsy or sometimes, no reason. When fellow Nigerian employers, managers or just plain, ordinary Nigerian, treat other Nigerians despicably, you don't expect foreigners to treat you any better,do you?


What can be done ?
1. Our leaders have to rise to the occassion. They have to establish a framework that will insist that Nigerians should not earn less than their expatriate counterparts, nor should the Nigerian be treated any less than his expatriate colleague. The Nigerian does not need to be paid in a foreign currency, but his Naira earnings should be compatible to what his expatriate colleague earns.

2. The labour unions should rise to the occassion and insist that their members should be treated equally as their expatriate colleagues

3. Nigerians should stop treating one another badly. Lets treat ourselves with respect and decency so that the foreigners in our midst will have no choice but to treat us well

4. All Nigerians must rise up and insist on their right, which is the right to be treated as first class citizens in their own country.

A lone voice crying in the wilderness!!!!! Carry come ma brother!!!

Funloving, you have said it all. The labour unions need to take this up with the government. Thank God we have a government that listens and cares now.

The only thing I dont like in your post is that you mention Ketu as if Ketu is a slum and thats where I'm living. LOL.

I sorry sorry ohhh i sorry for Nigeria ,Africa and the black race.

well said funloving

Bros i dey feel u abeg. This worm is in all parts of our economy and it keeps eating deeper and deeper. I work with a Lebanese Highway Construction Firm and face this sh*t daily.

Until our leaders provide jobs for the teeming masses that roam the streets jobless which will afford us the opportunity to call our own terms, this problem will persist. As it is now, if u dare complain and make ur position known, and probably threaten to leave, ahh na with pleasure dem go escort u go door, cos the next guy is willing to take up ur position even for lesser terms.

The solution lies entirely with the government and the union leaders. Blame nothing on the expatriates. They see an opportunity, they grab it - Typical human behaviour.

@funloving,

The problem is with us Nigerians. Greed and mental lethargy on the part of our so-called leaders have blinded them from seeing the right track to take.

I'm hopeful that in time, Nigeria will be blessed with better leaders. But for now, the mediocrity will simply take its course, except for small but sure successes here and there.

Long live the dream!

Tribalism rules in Nigeria.

@topic:
Check out this link, answers to some of your questions are here:

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-56606.0.html

Why should a foreigner be paid in foreign currency in Nigeria, it's just not acceptable and government must look into it.

That is why it is better to support our homegrown entrepreneurs, because a capitalist from home can never behave the way a capitalist from abroad will.

Homegrown capitalist will respect local people and if not can be easily compelled to do so.

Okay, rhetoric aside, let's approach this issue with common sense.
How will you justify bringing a man a continent away frm his family to work in a different country, on ein which he is bound to face different challenges, yet you expect him to earn the same as the local hire?
Why pay an american or Briton in Naira? Is he not far more likely to invest the cash in Dollars or Euros in his own country's stock market, etc?
In most cases, these expatriates brought in are more experienced than the local hires. many others are simply more trustd to handle some jobs. I don't see how Dangote Sugar will open up a branch in Uganda and Aliko will not send one of his relations to oversee the operations.


This whole issue smacks of jealousy and reverse racism. if not, how mny of you raised an outcry when Okonjo-iweala was being paid in dollars far, far more than her Nigerian counterparts. Where were your dissenting voices then? The reason the Naija govt gave then was the dollar pay was to compensate her for the sacrifice she made.

yet you feel an expat who leaves his own land to go to a new culture to work should not be well rewarded. Pity

Its no use complaining here. Your grievance should be directed to the source!  Draft a robust letter of complaint, get it signed by all of us that feel a grievance on this issue(especially on nl) and mail (email - this should not be hard to get) it to the MD/CEO of such organisations, forward same to the headquarters of the coys in question, to the respective government dept./agency that regulates these coys in their home countries and Nigeria, to media houses in that region, house of reps. and senate members, labour unions, NGOs that take a special interest in such matters, and whoever else you can think of, repeat this process as often as necessary till the desired result is achieved, then we are talking.   

Failing that the status quo continues!

This whole issue smacks of jealousy and reverse racism

Absolutely incorrect; you got it wrong, my man.

The problem here is one of the three:

1. Inferiority Complex

2. Confidentiality Concern

3. Slavery Mentality

Wait till it happens directly to you and you will quickly understand why I've selected the 3 factors.

The white guy needs to be paid more, or else he simply won't come here to work.
Why should a European come to Nigeria to work if he can stay at home and earn more?
Every company is in business to make money; a white man won't earn more if he's not worth it!

Every company is in business to make money

Solid point!

But according to the topic,

You have two men doing exactly the same job in the same office or field location. Absolutely the same working conditions, same output. One is an expatriate the other, a Nigerian.

If companies are in business to make money, does it make sense for them to even bring an European man to Nigeria to do the same job a Nigerian can do for less money?

Absolutely NO

It is what it is; We are still suffering from:
1. Inferiority Complex

2. Confidentiality Issues and

3. Slavery Mentality

And I hope it wouldn't take too long to start embracing one another and appreciate our value as Nigerians.

Americans will die first before paying foreigners more than their own people. This is how we should be thinking.
We should be proud of who we are or else outsiders will continue to step all over Nigerians in Nigeria.

If a company is overpaying some of its workers, it will eventually go out of business. Problem solved.

a white man won't earn more if he's not worth it!

Another problem here is the fact that most of these white men being brought to Nigeria are nobody in their contries; but to Nigerian employers, these folks are the best.

Totally Inferiority Complex and Slavery Mentality.

Nobody will respect you if you don't respect yourselves.

@BigB1

I appreciate the fact that you've tried to keep this discussion as logical as possible, so i'll try for a reasonable and logical explanation.

just like the original poster, i am in the Oil industry. And yes, many people feel the same way like he does.

now, let's examine the situation. You have a need for 2 Petroleum Engineers of a suitable experience level in a multinational company. One slot is occupied by a Nigerian. the other slot is vacant and needs to be filled. of course, the sole Nigerian cannot do the two jobs. HR does internal sourcing and finds out that the only Nigerians that have that experience level are tied up in other similarly demanding jobs.
Now let's say the Nigerian guy earns N600k per month, and his counterpart earns $6000 in the US (higher due to higher task rates and industry comaprison). Now it is decided to bring the US white guy over to Nigeria.
Remember he's married and has a family, so he has to be compensated for the relocation. he's going to a new place with a new culture, so he needs some form of incentive for the move. all this is built into his salary along with his security allowances. this boosts his salary from $6000 to $11000 monthly.

Now he resumes in Nigeria and the Naija guy sees the guy doing the same job as he's doing, but earning more than twice his pay. this brings up the emotions i described before

1. Jealousy

jealousy because prior to the coming of the expatriate, he was perfectly content with his salary. Now he benchmarks with the expat, forgetting that he should actually be benchmarking against the industry standard.

2. Foolishness

because the malcontented fellow goes home to sleep with his wife and play with his family. He visits his village often and never even thinks of what the other guy left behind.


Look, i'm a Nigerian and i work in a multinational. I get paid extra when i go overseas, i get paid bonuses if i move from lagos to PH or Warri. that happens in ALL oil companies. it is mischievous of the poster not to take this into consideration.

His post then descends into illogicality when he blabs about expats staying in hotels and estates on the Island. Look, these guys need special security in Naija, and a major part of their decision to come down to Naija is that their security is well catered for. What do you want, for him to move into a busy one-bedroom flat in Yaba? My friend was robbed in a holdup in lagos last week, and she's a Nigerian. How much more will an expat be targeted for such attacks?

My scenario painted above does not even fully capture the siuation in Nigeria, where the majority of the expats there are SMEs (subject matter experts) that have great amount of experience. The fact that they're doing the same job now doesn't mean they don't have some latent skills that can come into action when needed.


Finally, most multi-nationals frequently bring in expats to further theri development and increase competence. With the addition of the attendant bonuses, they'll definitely earn more than a Nigerian that is even higher in the company. The key is to understand why the pay is higher,a nd to curb jealousy.

@texazzpete:

Well, what can I say? You've opened my eyes and I have absolutely nothing else to say about this issue.
Your post is uncluttered, very clear and extremely enlightening.

Bravo and thanks for your intellectual insight on this matter.

@Big B1
It has been long since i've enjoyed a reasonable discourse with soneone of your intellect. I am honoured!

so he has become an intellectual because he agrees with what you said. Our own Bigb1 the IBB apologist.

@Seun

You must have read a bit of Friedman or Hayek
because your argument is strangely academic

But we deal with real life conditions in an industry where the
companies enjoy the security of unreasonable contracts.

This companies have the luxury to make this sort of decisions
without incurring any penalties.

Of course the belief of the hard nosed economist is that
companies cannot afford to keep paying above cost and will
be wiped out by more effective competition eventually

but it is important to understand a Keynesian refrain:

'In the long run we are all deal'

@texazzpete

Agreed that could be the case in some instances, but certainly not in majority of cases.  

There has been cases where Nigerians resident abroad(with the same skill set and experience) have not been offered expatriate remuneration because they are Nigerians.  I know a particular case where a Nigerian IT professional resident in the UK was called for an interview in Nigeria with a Multinational, a white South African was also called in for the same post.  At the end of the day they were impressed with him and offered him the job, he then insisted on being paid as an expatriate - they refused.  They said even though he was caring a British Passport he had a Nigerian name and therefore would be paid local rate. The white South African was given the Job and was paid expatriate wages.

There is no justification for this and we should not try and explain it away.  It will not happen anywhere else, yeah there may be a few instances where you can go abroad and command much higher wages than the locals, but not to the extent it happens in Nigeria. Some of these guys are not even experts, jobless opportunist more like.

And no they would not go out of business if they keep paying expatriate rates and even more - these coys make super abnormal profits in Nigeria!

IT SELDOM HAPPENS

Nigeria is a BBC appologies to Fela Big Blind Country. Okonjo Iweala and Co were paid in dollars and Nigerians went to court to challange that practice, but its acceptable for a non Nigerian to be paid in dollars and Nigerians in Naira. Mental slavery- applogies to Bob Marley.

You would be shocked to find out what is in the jont venture agreement between Nigeria and big oil companies. Some say its 60% for Nigeria and 40% for oil companies.

.

@texazzpete
I get your interesting argument but the case you enumerated is only a minority

Consider this real situation which I have encountered.

There is this Nigerian Driller on one of the Deep Offshore Drilling Rigs. His colleague is an American. The both work in this same location, dong the same work.
I don't know what you might call more experience here, but the Nigerian does exactly what the American does in fact, in most of my expeditions to the Rig, the Nigerian was the one who handled a most critical aspect of the job. Even if you claim the American is more experienced, that experience doesn't seem to count here as the Nigerian does just as good, if not better. Yet he gets paid alot less

I understand that when you take people out of their countries to work in a foreign land it pays to compensate them. But when your compensation sees to it that the expatriate earns maybe up to five times, literally, more than his Nigerian colleague, please I need a better argument for justifying such pay.

You mentioned it being okay to put the expatriates in good accommodation in V.I. Again I have no problem with that but why can't the Nigerian staff be paid enough housing allowance to also rent good houses in V.I ? Or do Nigerians deserve poorer housing or be exposed to greater crime simply because they are Nigerians ?

Lets talk some more about experience
How much experience does a Canteen staff bring from India unto a job in Nigerian when you consider that the Nigerian Chefs can cook just about any kind of Continental or Local cuisine ? Yet we have all the expatriates ,expecially in offshore location, working alongside their Nigerian colleagues, doing what Nigerians are very capable of doing. And there are lots of Nigerians out there on the streets who can do this job. I speak from first hand knowledge

I am not against expatriation. I have nothing against bringing expatriates afterall, Nigerians also go abroad to work as expatriates. Expatriation brings a form of robustness and diversity to the work force. It "may" also lead to skill transferrence. ( I deliberately used "may" becuase a lot of these expatriates are not willing to share their knowledge with Nigerians).

My arguement is why pay the Nigerian so much less than a Nigerian ? I can understand paying the expatriate some extra for the inconvenience. I also don't have an issue with paying him in dollar or euros or pounds. But why should his "Nigerian colleague" of comparable experience, ability and output earn so much less ?

How do you justify a Nigerian Deck foreman who earns N140,000 a month and his expatriate deck foreman, doing the smae job on the same boat deck earning the equivalent of N1.4M? They are both separated from their families for the same length of time ( 28/28 days shift for both Nigerian and expatriate). They are both exposed to the vagaries of the weather, risk, hazrds, etc.

If the Nigerian earned N1.0M and the expatriate earned N1.4M for working in Nigerian, it would make more sense

For your information, alot of these expatriates are really nobodies in their countries and won't be able to ge the kind of jobs they get here in Nigerian in their countries. They can't get these kinds of benefits. That is why with all the Niger Delta Militancy and crimes and insecurity, they keep coming and working here. The benfits are way beyond what they will get back home.

And just to remind you, alot of Nigerians on expatriation in Western countries do not get benefits that are much more significant than what their colleagues who are citizens of that country receive.

A colleague on expatriation to the US could only afford a room for the first few months of his arrival. Through out his stay, he didn't live or earn significantly better than his Americans colleagues, unlike what obtains for the American in Nigeria.

I can come up with more examples but lets rest this case by saying, pay Nigerians just as good as you pay their expatriate colleagues, making allowance for some extra to the expatriate for being away from home

Still @ texazzpete
My company has begun to recognise that the expatriates's benefits consistitute a huge chunk of our over running costs and is now significantly reducing expatriate recruitment.
This shows that alot of these expatriate benefits are not just justifiable. This has nothing to do with jealousy but everything to do with simple economic logic and lots of one moment of patriotic nationalism
It simply does not make sense to pay Nigerians so much less than foreigners doing exactly the same kind of job

ziddy:

so he has become an intellectual because he agrees with what you said. Our own Bigb1 the IBB apologist.

99% of the discussions in Nairaland end up in arguments and no-one learns anything. Everyone here is to be congratulated on their maturity!

adconline:

Nigeria is a BBC appologies to Fela Big Blind Country. Okonjo Iweala and Co were paid in dollars and Nigerians went to court to challange that practice, but its acceptable for a non Nigerian to be paid in dollars and Nigerians in Naira. Mental slavery- applogies to Bob Marley.

You would be shocked to find out what is in the jont venture agreement between Nigeria and big oil companies. Some say its 60% for Nigeria and 40% for oil companies.

Nigerians suffer for lack of Information. How many Nigerians went to court to challenge the wages pai to Okonjo Iweala and co? Was it not only Gani and a handful of others? What happend to the case? How much furore was raised here on Nairaland, a place supposed to be a gathering point of Nigerian Intellectuals?

The biggest JV (joint Venture) operating in Nigeria is that between NNPC, Shell, Elf and Agip. Shell is the operator, with the NNPC as the majority stakeholder.
When the oil is extracted, 80% is immediately taken off as tax. It's the remaining 20% that is then shared in that ratio of 60% to the NNPC, 40% to the oil companies.
Misinformation like that you just provided is the main cause of the Niger Delta crisis, because people point fingers at the wrong people.
Currently, at an assumed oil price of $60 a barrel, the Nigerian Government gets about 57% while the second largest stakehlder (Shell) takes only $2 as profit. Please ask industry leaders if you doubt this.


@funloving
[b]The analogy you gave represents a minority, contrary to your thinking, but it happens nonetheless. and it's for a far less sinister reason than you think.
A gu brought from the US already earns far far more than his Nigerian counterpart when the money is converted to Naira. The average fresh medical doctor in the Uk should take home at least 2000 pounds monthly. which fresh Nigerian doctor earns the equivalent N500,000? in fact, which fresh naija doctor earns up to N130,000 monthly?
When this british doctor is made to come to Naija, added benefits and incentives may shoot his salary up to 4000 pounds. Will the naija doctor be right to demand for N1m monthly salary?
Sadly, that's the scenario you paint in your analogy.
that's why it's termed jealousy. The Driller was fully satisfied with his wages before the expat came. Did the advent of the white man reduce his standard of living? Don't forget that it's easier for a naija man earning N300k a month to 'live large' than a Briton earning 2000 pounds (N500k equivalent) to live large in the UK.[/b]

the expatriate allowances are paid as an add on to what you were already earning, so a Naija guy getting sent to the US will not expect to earn significantly more than his American counterparts who were already earning way more than him in Naira terms.

I worked for a multinational company a few years ago and there was a security man who worked there. He had worked as a manager in a construction company in Nigeria. He made a mistake when he left thinking he had made a huge killing with all his earnings in Nigeria and came back home. Needless to say, he ended up a security man: he has no real qualifications - however, he was manager over several well qualified and experienced Nigerians.

There is a second one I know who was a territorial manager for an oil servicing company(name withheld). He also made lots of money in Nigeria and resigned to travel the world. He has no qualifications to help him when he ran out of money and he is now a taxi driver. He said he was going to seek another employment in Nigeria.

It is nothing short of racism. Nigerians dont earn higher wages than white people when they go abroad to work as Highly skilled Migrants

i struggle to understand how a 'territorial manager' will have no qualifications, Nigeria or not. no multinational will EVER hire an unqualified person to such a critical job just on the basis of his skin color.

funloving, see if you understand this any better than i can.

why am I not suprised that you struggle to understand how how an unqualified man can be made a manager? maybe because I see that you seem to always want to support the position of the white man

JustGood:

why am I not suprised that you struggle to understand how how an unqualified man can be made a manager? maybe because I see that you seem to always want to support the position of the white man

i struggle because, unlike you, i employ logic in my thought processes.
Please, this topic has so far been free from conflict. don't bring over any beef here, it's unwanted.