February 06, (THEWILL) – Thousands of apprentices in markets across Nigeria spend time learning a trade under a shop owner – anywhere from two, three, four, five years up – and then own their shops thereafter. This arrangement can be one-sided for some luckless lads as traders have devised a range of ruses to not meet their obligations. Michael Jimoh reports…
The most recent demonstration in the heart of Igbo land was not politically motivated or even on account of IPOB. It was a different kind of protest, not uniformed, gun-bearing police or military confronting civilians but civilians against civilians, Igbo against Igbo at International Electrical Market Obosi only 10 km from Onitsha Main Market.
What sparked off this protest?
A trader in that section of the market paid an apprentice N100, 000 after serving him for nine long years. You needn’t be a Maths wiz to know it comes to roughly N11k per year, starting from around 2013. You also needn’t be a realtor to know the payoff can barely rent a patch in a market where, because they are in high demand round the year, shops are quite pricey. Add up the years of service for the apprentice, having to go to work every day for nine years except Sundays and public holidays and you begin to understand why the protesters got truly mad at the penny-pinching trader.
By common consent from both parties, parents give out their wards to be apprenticed to a trader, shop owner aka master, Oga, for a number of years after which they get paid or settled, to borrow a word apprentices are familiar with. Part of the bargain is the apprentice will not only tend Oga’s shop but live with him at home effectively giving him the dual roles of office boy and domestic servant.
The apprentice himself at Obosi Electrical Market would have lived in Oga’s house for those nine years, ran errands for Madam at home or in the shop, assisted with house work and generally put to work like a slave in the hope of securing a future for himself.
The future was not exactly what he bargained for when it came two weeks ago. To say he was shattered is an understatement. He took his case to some traders in the market. Soon, word got around from mouth to mouth, through social media denouncing the shop owner’s appalling conduct.
Faster than an ‘Applico’ (roadside hustler in large markets) wooing a reluctant buyer, a crowd gathered in the market. There was talk of a “revolution,” a revolt of apprentices against an unconscionable and miserly master. When the demonstration proper began, it was no surprise hundreds of apprentices manned the barricades, not only to fellow-feel with their aggrieved member but to also send subtle messages to their own masters who may be inclined to renege on their pledge when the time comes.
“Enough is enough,” the irate protesters shouted, meaning that in that market and elsewhere, shop owners do actually shortchange apprentices once it’s time to pay up.
“The revolution has started,” they went on, determined to put an end to one of the most confounding problems between apprentices and their masters.
Acknowledging an age-old practice of serial “abuse in the apprenticeship system” in which apprentices almost always end up holding the short end of the stick, Managing Director of Anambra Broadcasting Service, Chief Uche Nworah, has taken the case further to the Awka Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mine and Agriculture.
To address the issue, Nworah will convene a summit themed “Repositioning Igbo Apprenticeship Scheme (Igba -Boi) for Sustainable Economic Development.” The summit will look into “the Igbo apprenticeship scheme, bring out the positives and recommend areas for improvement for the scheme to continue to be relevant in the 21st century.”
It is not only underpaying bosses the summit will address. Top on the agenda will surely be the proclivity of some shop owners to frame up their apprentices for stealing. “It is common for an apprentice to be accused of stealing by his master,” someone knowledgeable in such matters told THEWILL recently. “This usually happens when the apprentice is almost due for settlement.”
It must be said however that not only apprentices are at the receiving end in their years of service under shop owners. Ogas, too, have been hard done by. There are instances of shop keepers making off with millions in their care, wilfully running down formerly prosperous businesses or frittering away the proceeds from hard-earned goods on girlfriends.
One such incident occurred many years ago at the Iron Market in Iyana Ipaja, Lagos, when an apprentice absconded with several million naira from his master’s shop. According to witnesses then, the iron dealer was good to all his boys. Why Chinedu stole his boss’s money was hard to fathom. Anyway, the loot facilitated his travel to a European country where he put himself to work and made good.
Surprisingly, Chinedu returned years later, doubled the stolen money for his master and then bought him a car. Everyone was happy. Case dismissed.
But a 12-year-old apprentice, Sunday, was not so lucky after his boss discovered he’d stolen some money from the day’s sales in a gas shop at Ogba early last month. The Metro section of newspapers reported the heart-wrenching story of the apprentice who was beaten to death for a missing one thousand naira.
According to Godwin one of the apprentice who worked with Sunday, the shop owner, Uchechukwu with the improbable moniker Omo Jesu tortured the lad to death when he could not account for the money. They had all returned from the shop and were home readying for bed. It was that time, late at night, Uchechukwu decided to find out the thief in the shop.
To understand what happened that night, it is best to hear Godwin, who was at the back of the house when Uchechukwu aka Alloy was tormenting the poor chap.
“While at the backyard, we heard Sunday screaming for help, but our boss continued to beat him and didn’t stop till he (boss) stepped out to meet us at the backyard around 1am. When we didn’t hear Sunday’s voice again, we thought he already had his bath and slept. We even saw him lying motionless on the floor and thought he had slept, but there was blood on his body. Our boss later told us to pack about N1m he had at home and said he wanted us to quickly go to the shop and keep it. Three of us, except Sunday, left for the shop. But when we got there, our boss said he forgot the keys at home.”
By this time, only Omo Jesu knew Sunday had died but he never let on to his boys. What followed can be likened to a desperately panicked man who had only one thing in mind: escape. He did.
After collecting the one million naira and after deceiving the boys, he fled on a motorbike. Godwin and the other apprentice didn’t discover that Sunday had died until they got home.
Continuing his tale, Godwin said that “as we were about approaching the entrance to a street, he (Uchechukwu) told me that the security guards might think we were armed robbers as the two of us were on the motorcycle. He told me to get down and walk to meet him at the front, but he sped off. Immediately, I knew something had happened to Sunday. I quickly went to meet Stanley and we went home and met Sunday’s corpse. We raised the alarm and reported to the Baale, who assisted in reporting to the police.”
Like the protesting youths in Obosi, some young people in Ogba also invaded Uchechukwu’s shop and destroyed some of the items, made off with what they could. The death of a sales boy provoked their anger and so led to the march on his gas shop. As of the moment of writing this report, Omo Jesu is still on the lam.
About the Author
Michael Jimoh is a Nigerian journalist with many years experience in print media. He is currently a Special Correspondent with THEWILL.
