In the capital of Niger, Niamey, on the first of May there were just a couple of processions. The central trade unions have reduced the ritual holidays due to Ramadan and the unbearable heat of these days. On the sidelines of the procession, the Minister of Employment and Social Protection was presented, Dr. Ibrahim Boukary |, the long list of union demands.
They included: compliance with the International Labor Organization (OIT) convention for migrant workers, domestic workers, working conditions in hotels and sexist violations in the workplace … Previously, the minister had provided for the decoration of workers who , in the workplace, they have shown self-denial and dedication. Twelve of them, employees of companies, public and private administration, were decorated with the bronze, silver, gold medal and above all the prestigious Great Gold Medal.
Sin. Trade unions, ministers and workers have lost a unique opportunity to promote and launch, in a perennial form, the institution of the medal … “of Sand”, which is basically the most noble and deserved in this area. Africa thrives on informal work above all because, here with us, it is life that is informal, precarious, temporary, suspended daily by a thread (of sand). The workers in the “formal” and therefore with a regular employment contract are in the current panorama a tiny numerical minority. Ministries, NGOs, education, health and some construction companies, in addition to the well-known industries for the extraction of uranium and oil and little else, form the context of the claims referred to above. The others don’t. They are the vast majority and allow survival of hundreds of thousands of people.
The informal does not include either a contract or a salary and is characterized by the marginality. Work of marginal people who live crossing the borders between one job and another and know how to seize the opportunity when and if it arises. In the gold mines that become the economic salvation and the loss of health (and sometimes of life) for thousands of young people and in the participation in the asymmetric or proxy war that is being fought, for years now in the country and in the Sahel. It is a job outlet for some thousands of young people rendered invisible the absence of serious training and employment policies, especially in rural areas.
However, the sand medal goes first to them, donkeys, camels and oxen who, regardless of the traffic of the capital, of the traffic lights at counted seconds, of the taxis that embark passengers and luggage in every place, are the real lords and masters of traffic. They carry out an informal although not self-employed job. To them we should add the goats who, approaching the end of Ramadan, see their days vanish like a breath in the wind. There are repairers for pots, pants, watches, satellite dishes, radios, cell phones, bicycles, cars, computers, motorcycles, refrigerators, TVs, appliances, slingshots, bird nests, poultry cages, electrical systems, water leaks in the ducts, generators especially in the hot season, balloons and political parties. Each of these will be offered, by constitutional right, a sand medal for everlasting memory.
Women are no less and they are specialists in feeding the family, the numerous offspring, the neighbors and the occasional and inevitable visits, out of nowhere. They invent, manufacture, sell ice, fresh water, roadside treats, condiments, typical dishes, alcoholic beverages, trendy clothes, wigs and fake braids that come from India or China. I’m unsurpassed in transforming the little into enough because they know that the real economy is that of everyday life, made up of nothing and therefore for everyone.
The thirteenth medal, the sand one, will be destined also and above all to the Street vendors. To the one who sells an inflatable swan and swimming pool for the dry season and sells umbrellas for the short rainy season. He will later pass by selling dog leashes or cat cages or canaries that no one has ever seen. If you arrive at the crossroads by car you will see him cleaning the windows and asking for something for dinner afterwards. You will surprise him selling paper handkerchiefs and masks for the Covid that the dust of the Sahel has carried away. You will notice him later selling skewers down the street with a Juve or Real Madrid shirt.