The Unseen Struggles of a Nigerian Student in the UK Gig Economy

When Onyedika (a pseudonym employed to protect the person’s privacy) left Ozalla, Enugu State in Nigeria and relocated to the UK in October 2019 on a student visa, he harboured the same ambitions as countless other migrants: access to world-class education, proximity to global professional opportunities, and the promise of economic security. Today, between his three jobs, he works over 80 hours weekly, leaving him with barely any time to pursue other goals. In addition to his punishing work schedule, Onyedika’s unstable financial circumstances have distanced him from his family back home, who financed his move with the expectation that he would become a primary provider upon settling in the UK. His predicament is a common reality among many Nigerian immigrants struggling to make ends meet in the UK’s harsh socioeconomic climate.

LIVING TO WORK, WORKING TO LIVE

The Japa syndrome has become emblematic of the disillusionment amongst Nigerian youth, where seven out of ten young people express a willingness to leave the country. Their decision to leave is driven by the failure of the Nigerian state to guarantee a viable future for its young people.

It is now commonplace for Nigerians keen on establishing a life in the UK to seek entry to the country via a student visa. With an estimated average cost of £22,000 annually, the UK has Europe’s most expensive education system. Despite this fact, and the recent 35 per cent increase in the student visa fee, Nigerians are not discouraged. Nearly 60,000 Nigerians immigrated to the UK to study in 2023, marking a 73 per cent increase from the previous year and a staggering 769 per cent rise from 2019.

Onyedika arrived in the UK with only €920, barely enough to cover a month’s rent, to say nothing of school fees and other living expenses. Within a few days of his arrival, he started working multiple jobs, contravening the laws that restrict international students to no more than 20 hours of work per week. ‘How else could I have gathered the money for tuition and still managed to live?’ he exclaimed. He secured his first job in the UK through a recruitment agency. This agency gave him the impression that the best job he would be able to get as a fresh immigrant was as a care worker in homes for the elderly and disabled. Consequently, he commenced work, undertaking night shifts lasting 10 hours, earning £10.5 per hour. He admitted to me that it was hard at first, almost humiliating, especially as he had no experience looking after anyone else, let alone elderly people. Nonetheless, he convinced himself that this was a temporary position, taken solely out of necessity to cover his living expenses and university fees. However, upon receiving his first month’s salary of £1,000, he resolved to persevere. Four years on, he still works night shifts at the nursing home.

To supplement his income at the nursing home, he delivers food for local restaurants (earning from £7 to £10 which is less than the official minimum wage). Like countless foreigners who arrive in Europe needing quick, no-strings-attached jobs, Onyedika found an opportunity in food delivery apps. He was introduced to someone who set up a fake paper account (using counterfeit identifying documents) for him in exchange for £700. This exploitative system even allows accounts to be rented from those who are legally entitled to create one, in return for a commission from the earnings of those who are not.

Like other ‘freelance’ roles in the so-called gig economy, delivery jobs are appealing because they create the illusion of independence, especially for immigrants who are restricted in the kind of work they can do. From Onyedika’s testimony, I observed that delivery apps create a kind of ‘gambling effect’. Each new order triggers a release of dopamine in the brain and can perpetuate interest in the job despite its inherent instability. While delivery apps provide opportunities to earn money, they lack the social benefits typically associated with traditional employment. Riders often find themselves isolated during work hours, with only themselves or possibly distant loved ones for company. Additionally, the ‘boss’ in this scenario is an algorithm, whose workings are opaque and can penalize workers for deviating from assigned work hours or experiencing delays in fulfilling orders. As such, delivery jobs can exacerbate feelings of loneliness and isolation.

In 2022, Onyedika took on yet another job to add to his other streams of income. He works several hours a week at a warehouse, where he picks up and stocks orders of clothes, shoes, footballs and other goods.

DEFERRED DREAMS AND NEW REALITIES

When he was much younger, Onyedika’s dream was to become a professional footballer and make a living from his passion. He has struggled for the right to play throughout his life. As a teenager, he fought often with his older brother, who prohibited him from playing football until he finished high school. Now, at 25, he grapples with the fatigue of endless shifts at work. He lost his father when he was only 12 months old. His mother followed four years later. Before she passed, she made Onyedika promise (at barely five years of age) that he would become a priest. In his parents’ absence, he was raised by his three older sisters and two brothers, all of whom worked hard to ensure he fulfilled his mother’s dying wish by training to enter the priesthood. In Onyedika’s community, the priesthood carries significant importance, symbolizing honour, prestige and a degree of financial stability. Considering the deeply religious atmosphere of his hometown, it is natural for a parent to envision such a path for their youngest offspring. In fulfilling his mother’s wishes, Onyedika attended seminary school for four years, until he was unfortunately expelled for missing a crucial exam. His life has since taken a different path.

The money notwithstanding, Onyedika believes that his job with the care home is hurting his professional prospects in his field of study. ‘I have been rejected by all the IT companies I have applied to so far. Once they notice you have experience in health and social care, they would rather have you remain there.’ According to Onyedika, a common perception among migrants is that care roles are dead-end jobs. The UK is experiencing a shortage of care workers to look after its ageing population. The 2021 census showed that the number of over-65s in the UK had risen from 9.2 million to 11 million in the last decade.

At the end of 2022, vacancies in the National Health Service in the UK had reached a record high of over 130,000. At the same time, data from job boards showed that ads in social care were not attracting as many clicks as other similarly paid jobs. Despite the UK government’s decision to expand work visas in the health sector as of February 2021, the problem of unfilled jobs in this field continues to be a pressing issue. A 2023 report from Oxford University’s Migration Observatory asserts that there is a risk of the UK becoming excessively dependent on foreign employees to fill social care positions.

IMMIGRATION TRENDS POST BREXIT

Despite the fact that curbing the influx of migrants was a primary goal for Brexit, net migration post Brexit has reached unprecedented levels. While violence and oppression in certain regions drive numerous refugees to seek asylum in the UK, another major factor contributing to immigration is the labour shortage resulting from Brexit, particularly evident in the health, social care, and agriculture industries, revealed by an unemployment rate of just 4 per cent.

This trend is not completely new. In 2014, Romanians were granted the right to travel and work freely within the European Union [EU]. By 2015 they already represented the nationality with the highest share of people employed in domestic work in Italy: 20.5 per cent of more than 880,000 employees. Also, in 2021, between 300,000 and 600,000 thousand people from central and eastern Europe were working as carers for the elderly in Germany. It is important to remember that Europe is not a uniform area even among EU Member States. There has always been a hierarchy between European countries.

Eastern European populations, a peripheral part of Europe until recently, have always provided an immigrant labour force for the richer countries of Western Europe. Although the new EU enlargements of 2004 and 2007 promised non-discriminatory European integration within the union, the reality has shown that Eastern European migrants have faced substantial discrimination, competition with existing ethnic groups in the receiving countries and significant negative market valuation, being exploited and marginalized as a new flexible labour force.

In the latest polls, the UK has been ranked as one of the most open countries to foreign labour, a radical shift from the 2009 attitude known for the famous political slogan, ‘British jobs for British workers.’ Or from 2012, when the UK foreign secretary’s statement to a national publication that his aim is to create a genuinely hostile environment for illegal immigrants here in Britain enshrined the term, hostile environment, which has subsequently remained emblematic in English discussions of immigration.

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The Unseen Struggles of a Nigerian Student in the UK Gig Economy

LIVING TO WORK, WORKING TO LIVE

DEFERRED DREAMS AND NEW REALITIES

IMMIGRATION TRENDS POST BREXIT

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