Special Adviser to the President on Media and Policy Communications, Daniel Bwala has claimed that many Nigerians working in United Kingdom’s care homes are in modern-day slavery.
Speaking during an interview on The Morayo Show, Bwala argued that some Nigerians who believe they are struggling at home are better off than many of their counterparts who left the country years ago.
“Some of you in Nigeria who think you are suffering are better off than your colleagues that japa’d five years ago,” he said.
Bwala, who said he resides in the United Kingdom, claimed that many Nigerian graduates with first-class and second-class degrees end up working in care homes despite earning additional qualifications after relocating.
“A Nigerian that finished with first class or second class now moves to the UK and then adds another degree, works in care homes. As far as I am concerned, it is a modern-day slavery.”
He argued that the jobs many migrants take do not reflect their educational qualifications or professional potential.
“They call them mereno where I come from. Like lesser than a house girl. Because there are certain things a house girl cannot do. The type of jobs they get there is less than that of a house girl as a master’s holder in an economy that is supposed to place them where they ought to get the same money.”
Bwala also claimed that although many care workers earn between £2,600 and £2,800 monthly, most of the income is spent on rent, electricity, internet, television and other living expenses.
“When they get there, they do a job where they get an average of £2,600 or £2,800 in a month. £2,450 goes off to payment for power, internet, TV and rent. Rent is about £800 even if you are living in the outskirts of London.”
According to him, the high cost of living leaves many Nigerians with little money at the end of each month, forcing them to work multiple jobs.
“At the end of the day, what you are left with is not much, so you are forced to do two, three jobs. That is why recently you hear people die by the roadside.”
