Home Politics TRANSFORMING AFRICA THROUGH DIGNITY OF LABOUR- Francis Chinedu

TRANSFORMING AFRICA THROUGH DIGNITY OF LABOUR- Francis Chinedu

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TRANSFORMING AFRICA THROUGH DIGNITY OF LABOUR- An inevitable shift in our Paradigm:

Many wonders to a great extent why our brothers and sisters risk their lives to cross the Mediterranean Sea via the North African desert routes in their bid to enter Europe in search of greener pastures. Upon investigation, one will realize that so much money is being spent before embarking on such a journey without any assurance that they will make it alive. Several reasons have been given for engaging in such a high-risk journey and in a voyage which we have seen countless lives lost already. Most of the citizens that are involved in such adventures are mostly countries whose leaders are deep into corruption and bastardization of the economic and social system of most countries in Africa. Nigeria, Cameroon, Mali, Congo-DRC and Kinshasa, and most countries from the western, eastern, and southern Africa, are usually involved in this risky venture of crossing into Europe via the sea. In the Northern American region, the same or similar situation is faced but this time, the immigrants are not Africans but South American citizens. It is good to point out to my beloved brothers and sisters that these countries we are rushing to go and live in and viewed as paradise on earth, were able to fix and get their system transformed using the power of dignity of labour. I will try to be brief as much as I can but the subject demands to be a bit detailed.

It is sad to note that most of the jobs we see as demeaning and low-skilled, which graduates and non-graduates alike will not even want to do in our homelands, are what we end up in doing after so much risk and money spent on such dangerous mission. The question I need to ask is why then do we need to go and take such risk which is not offered for free but heavily paid for and even if is free does not have any justification for it. On the other hand, such financial commitment would have been invested into something worthwhile back home-say in agriculture as an example but sad enough, our people are yet to understand and appreciate the power of small beginnings. As mentioned in my previous work of similar subject, I have expounded on the need for us Africans to see the abundance of opportunities that currently lies in engaging in agribusiness. I think is much better for us to come to understand and begin to harness the opportunities within our continent than abandoning them due to ignorance or wrong mindset. According to DSA, “Dignity of labor indicates that all types of jobs are respected equally and no occupation should be considered superior. To many; being a farmer, fisherman, tailor, and cleaner or waste disposal team member is no job for a responsible young person. Many can’t understand why they should venture into such professions after having studied up to university level. Their mentality has always been to sit in an office, work on a computer and earn a salary at the end of the month. This isn’t a bad way of thinking neither is it bad to think of doing manual labor too. Whatever one finds his hand doing one needs to do it well and then fortune will smile on the person”.

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I think with the brief description above, we can see that there is an urgent need for Nigerians and Africans to have a change in our worldviews. If there is need for us to take risk to cross into Europe after spending huge sums of money, to go do menial jobs, I think we should also find joy and strength to do same back home with dignity and honor. I think the most important thing we Africans need to understand is that life is governed by laws and principles. If only we will know this, regardless of how dirty the job is, one can scale up in life and become great by remaining focused with one’s true goals and objectives in life. It is time we remove from our mindset that the only jobs to be respected are certain classes of work done in the office only. We need to understand that there is dignity in labor and that is the mentality the Europeans and Americans used to transform their homelands where we are now dying to go and reside. I want to remind us that we can transform AFRICA, using the same model. The only challenge we will encounter is the mindset, which makes most Nigerians and Africans disrespect certain categories of jobs while respecting and magnifying others. I know some people will not agree with some other points am putting out here but all the same we need to remind ourselves that we can change our continent and make it like others we are envying by working hard with the right mindset, laws and principles and get the work done. It will not be easy and will take time but is something achievable and worth doing. Furthermore according to DSA, “All we need is a reorientation on what it means to make a living. Yes, from the ordinary man on the street to the president of the country where we reside-a change of heart and mind that leads to a change in attitude!” it is good we understand that all that matters and most important is a change in attitude which will automatically determine our altitude in life. Such changes needs to be publicized and citizens of countries in Africa will need to be sensitized on the importance of having respect for all manner of work and this can also be enshrined or reflected in the constitution of the land and in our different countries. School administrators also have a role to play for such a campaign to uplift the need for dignity of labor, which should be made to reflect in school and educational curriculums of different levels, from the primary to the tertiary.

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Time has come for us to fix our continent with such a philosophy about life which will automatically kill the urge and hunger to go take risk of crossing to Europe or America in search of greener pasture. We have to see that we have come to that stage in the history of black race to know that the hour has come for us to the needful and save our continent and our great people from further enslavement and abuse, for we have suffered enough already. I will once again suggest that it is also the responsibility we owe ourselves to begin the work of putting the different countries in Africa in other using individual non-governmental platforms because of what we stand to achieve by ourselves. Pressure groups and individual media owners can employ the use their groups and organizations. We have to do it and the time to start is now. We have been used and exploited for several decades to build and develop most of the European and American regions, now is the time to get to work and build our place. We must begin to learn how to respect and honor work for what it is and not attaching importance to any by undue classifications of what is high paying job and low paying. We have to understand that the president or senator of the federal republic of Nigeria or any other African country is not better than the potter at the gates of national assembly complex. And until our reasoning gets to such an enviable height, we will still witness mass exodus of our brothers and sisters taking unnecessary and undue risk just to enter Europe and still engage in the same jobs which they will hardly accept to do back home.

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Some people may still argue that the economic conditions of most countries in Africa has affected our currencies which resulted in currency devaluations and which supports their reason for migrating abroad. But let me quickly add at this point that regardless how much one is earning and accumulating in hard or foreign currency, if there is no proper and adequate financial knowledge, people will still end been poor whether in Europe, UAE, America or Africa. What we need to know and do is to begin to see a change in our world view as I suggested earlier and get to work with the use of laws and principles that governs life and reinvent ourselves and our homelands. These laws and principles is capable to make one great regardless of geographical locations, and ignorant of them also, will of course subject one to sufferings and economic hardships whether in Europe, Gulf region or America. We need to understand that with proper orientation we have all it takes to transform the nations of Africa to be like where most of our young people are running to escape to in the name of looking for opportunities abroad. Like I stated earlier, the same principles, laws and philosophies which they applied and used in developing Europe, Gulf region, America and other developed economies, can work well in different countries in Africa. This is the time for a radical mind and paradigm shift. Let us stop demeaning ourselves thinking that it is about geographical locations, no, it is about understanding these rules of life (laws and principles) with their proper application such as appreciating the dignity of labor that will help to transform Africa our homeland. 

Finally, I will want to end at this point but will be updating more points on this subject so as to enable the reader get more insight on the strength of what we can use dignity of labor to achieve in Africa. At such time in history, we need to understand that it is ripe for Africans to use the glory and the limitless abundant opportunities we have in Africa to chart a new course in the history of the world. It is our time to make Africa ready for the rest of the world to begin to rush in for their self-sustenance, both as individuals, nations or countries and continent level. Africa is blessed and must rise to greatness.

Francis Chinedu, writes from Rwanda.


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