How is life for Nigerians living in Canada? (II)

This week I have a guest columnist sharing his views on my space. I hope you find it interesting.

By Omotayo Fakinlede

My children, who presently live in Canada, offered me a perspective recently. I think Nigerians need to study how Asians, in one or two generations, climb to the middle class in these Western Countries while Nigerians can keep receiving assistance for several generations.

One of my daughters, while at University in Canada had a friend, an Indian. They talked enough for her to notice that that girl’s parents came to Canada around the same time she herself was born in Canada. They (the girl’s parents) had only high school education compared to me in a PhD program at that time. All they were able to do were menial jobs and lived prudently until they were able to own a Corner Shop. The children grew up helping their parents and going to school. By the time these children reached university, the same parents could pay their fees while my own children needed school loans to get by. In a single generation, Indians with relatively lower education had arrived at Middle-Class status while we Nigerians are busy amassing degrees and boasting to be doing so well, ipso facto! Newsflash! Degrees are not paid for in Canada! Even with your PhD, you keep quiet at work and perform! If another person with a lower level of education does better than you, he could be paid more!

I will conclude with the story of another Nigerian in the United States. Again, this is a true story:

Musa, a Nigerian, with PhD in Chemical Engineering, works for a high-end manufacturing company in Michigan. He joined the company as a junior engineer before he went for his PhD at University of Michigan. After completion, he was employed to work in the research arm of the same company and was on a six-figure annual income. Then the economy went into recession. As a senior member of staff, he was well briefed about the company’s fortunes.

Then there was, again, this happy Indian foreman who did his daily routine joyfully as if everything was OK! Musa called him one day and asked if he was aware that the company had less than six months of work left and would be folded up. Rajiv (let’s call him by that name) smiled and told Musa he was fully aware of the state of the company. Then why was he so joyful?

Musa had the shock of his life when Rajiv explained that he already knew the company was not doing well two years previously. He had already made a down-payment for a 7-11 store that he was ready to move to and operate. Surprisingly, he found he could continue to work for nine more months, he therefore put his brother at that particular store while he was earning the income to work for the down-payment of another store! Instead of him running a single store with his brother, each will run a store and will help each other to complete payment!

The examples here are about certificate-piling Nigerian immigrants underperforming compared to lower educated Asians. When you now bring in highly educated Indians – that are by the way multiple of times the number of Nigerians, the story becomes even more interesting. Nigerians, abroad, often do not cooperate as easily as Asians do. Four or more Pakistani IT workers can be so helpful to one another, share apartment and contribute to sustain an unemployed member until they all move ahead in Western society. Nigerians in the same situation are more likely to engage in unhealthy competition. The Koreans, Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesians etc., move into middle class much faster than Nigerians do no matter how fast we start. If there is an Olympic medal for the number of degrees acquired, Nigeria will win! If it is a matter of entrepreneurship, upward mobility, social integration, etc., it is a different game! When a Chinese sets up a restaurant, he aims at the local Western population. The few Nigerians who set up Bukas are targeting other Nigerians or Africans like themselves – 2-5% of the population!

Conclusion.

There are opportunities in the Western countries for Nigerians and many have done well. There are also hundreds or thousands of Nigerians (doctors, engineers, lawyers, other professionals) living at the margins of those societies but will NEVER tell the truth to their families and friends at home. This can mislead many who get to know the truth too late and simply add to the number. Nigeria, (for several reasons: poor infrastructure, safety, opportunities, etc.) is a difficult place to live. The Western nations that look attractive to us are also (for a different set of reasons: competition, culture, weather, etc.) difficult places to live. The effort required to succeed in these countries can easily be as great as the effort needed to succeed in Nigeria. In fact, it is my private opinion that, if you are not an “Okada” or “Maruwa” driver in a Nigerian city, your effort to succeed in most of these countries will be sufficient to make you succeed in Nigeria also. It is with stunning perplexity I hear about young Nigerians with very good jobs, some even already owning their own homes, selling off and going to start at the end of the queue in Canada or America! I still cannot understand what they really think they will get over there! The fact is that you are probably more highly motivated to work when you are abroad than you would have been willing to work here in Nigeria. That is just my personal opinion!

Concluded

Fakinlede is a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Lagos.