By Maria Famakinwa

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Aliu was 15-year-old when he was brought to Ikeja, Lagos State by a relative to work as a domestic help. According to him, the untimely death of his father who promised to set him up after completing his vulcanizing apprenticeship made him consider coming to Lagos State to work as a domestic helper in order to get money to buy equipment and start his vulcanizing work. A move he said he regretted.

His words: “I am the first born in the family of five. I didn’t go to school but learnt vulcanizing. Seven months to the completion of my apprenticeship, my father who had promised to buy the needed equipment to start my work died suddenly and there was no one to help except a relative who advised me to come and work as a domestic staff in Lagos State. I agreed after my mother and sister convinced me that I would work with rich people in Lagos and would be well paid. Arrangement was made and I was  brought to Lagos State in February 2020. My first experience as a house help was at Ikeja with Mr and Mrs Openiyi who agreed to pay me  N240, 000 per year. I was happy that if I could be getting such amount asides feeding, then my plan to start my Vulcanizing work would soon come to reality. However, I was wrong as the promise of a better life turned out to be a woeful life.

“My boss, have three children and the eldest, a boy, was eight years old then. The wife was the problem, there was nothing I did that pleased her despite following all instructions given. It became so serious that anytime I heard Mrs Openiyi’s voice, my heart skips because I didn’t know her next action. She complained of not ironing clothes well, not mopping well, too slow, smelling and occasionally slapped me. When I could no longer cope, I told her husband that I wanted to go after five months of unbearable pains and turbulent. The man blamed his wife’s attitudes for my decision and he paid me off. It was after I left that I discovered I had hearing difficulty due to the many slaps I received from Mrs Openiyi who believes that was the best way to correct me. I spent more than the money I was paid there to treat my hearing problem. The woman is simply wicked,” he said.

Aliu, further disclosed that his determination to raise money for his Vulcanizing equipment made him secure another house help job in Maryland area of Lagos State, seven months after leaving Openiyi’s family which he described as jumping from frying pan to fire. He said: “If my experience with my former boss was bad, my second and last experience with the Adedoyins was hellish. They have two boys and a girl who were all in secondary school but I was made to do virtually everything including washing their three cars and caring for their three dogs. The only thing I didn’t do was bathing the couple and their children. Yet, I was contented doing it because it was what I signed for after the agreement to be paid N300,000 per year.

“I worked almost non-stop but remained focused to get paid so that I can have capital to start my acquired skill. This was never to be. One incident I can never forget in a hurry was when she accused me of drinking a wine she kept in the freezer and re-filling the bottle with water. All my explanations to defend myself fell on her deaf ears and she decided not to give me food again but bread. She would give me bread in the morning and night. Her husband, was very nice but he works outside Lagos State and came home when less busy. 

“I was lucky when my madam’s mother and her younger sister came visiting in October 2021 and discovered that I ate bread while others were served rice and chicken. Her mother asked her why I was not served same food and she told her mother that I drank her wine, replaced it with water and kept it back in the freezer. The mother called me and asked but I told her I was not the one. Her mother and her younger sister begged her to let me eat rice but she refused. After six day of eating only bread and water, I became so weak that I could not carry out other house chores as expected. This infuriated my madam and she descended on me that I became sick after the beating. My madam’s younger sister, Bisi, went to buy food and drugs for me without her knowledge and advised me to call my parents to come and pick me. I left a week after the incident when my sister who took me to her came. When I returned to Cotonou, my mother wept but I consoled her that she should be grateful to God for seeing me alive. I met other people  who also came to Nigeria for domestic works but were given inhuman treatment. They all have bitter stories to tell; some worse than mine. Since then, Benineous vowed never to work as domestic helpers for Nigerians again,” he revealed.

The sad tales of how people maltreat their domestic staff is worrisome. Their lives is unpalatable. They merely exist at the mercy of their employers, who treat them with disdain. They can easily be identified in any household because they are often set apart as slaves of sorts. Their look always portraying nothing but grief and sorrow. They are the first to wake up in the morning and last to go to bed at night. Like Aliu, another girl promised of a good life was Bose who also narrated her sad tale coming from Cotonou to work as a domestic helper in Ibadan, Oyo State.

Bose, 17, described her experience as man’s inhumanity to man as she likened her 10 months stay with the Adam’s family in Ibadan, Oyo State as horrific but thanked God for her freedom. She said: “My problem started June last year just three months after being employed. My parents didn’t want me to go but I insisted because I wanted to support them financially being the first child in a family of seven. I understand that I have a lot of responsibilities to help my family out of poverty. That was why I jumped at the offer to work as house help and get N300,000 per year asides the fact that they promised to feed and clothe me.

“Things however changed after three months when my boss and his wife accused me of using witchcraft power to affect the family business. The first incident that happened was that one of their dogs that was sick before I got there died six weeks after and the husband fingered me as being responsible. I was asked to carry the dog around 11.10pm at night to a very far bush and throw it there alone. When I could not carry it alone on my head, the man supported me and also confirmed that the dog was heavy, but that it would served as punishment for me for killing the dog. When I could no longer carry the dog to the designated bush because I was tired, I dumped it at another bush and was arrested by night guards watching over the area. I begged them to release me and explained my predicament to them. They felt for me and allowed me to go. They said they were not surprised as it was not possible for any parents to send her biological child such an errand in the dead of the night.

“After the death of the dog, the suspicion became serious that I was taken to a programme and placed on fasting and prayer for nine days to be “delivered”. When my health could no longer sustain the hardship, I told them to let me go but they said they would not release me until I return the fortune of their business taken to the coven of witches. I wept like I never did before just to gain my freedom but they refused. When I was fed up, I stopped doing any house chores and refused to eat as I threatened to kill myself. It was then they called my aunt who took me to them. When my aunt saw my condition she wept and asked me to pack my things. I was surprised that my boss wife collected all the clothes she bought for me including the used ones she gave me when I got there and burnt everything. Thank God I left there shattered but not dead. It was an experience I am yet to recover from. A neighbour who saw me after I left the place told me that I was the fifth house maid to work with the family known for maltreating their domestic staff. l can tell you now that most families in Cotonou are against the idea of releasing their children for Nigerians as domestic helpers due to the near death experience they subject us to. Nigerians are heartless, we regret working for them. They treat us like slaves,” she maintained.

A marriage counselor, Mrs Oluremi Edeth, who condemned the idea of releasing one’s child to work  as a domestic servant advised parents to give birth to the number of children they could cater for. She said:“Many of them were given out by their parents based on promises of a better life but it all ended in regrets. It is a tale of pain all the way. They are starved, tortured, brutalized and abused.

“Though, there are laws against any form of child abuse, but it is not enough to promulgate laws that are even unenforceable in first place. Let government provide necessary ingredients for good life for the people. If the economy is good, no family will be too poor to train their children. As we pray for good economy, I will advise couples to give birth to the number of children they can fend for which will help to curb the issue of domestic helpers,” she said.