Public Service or Modern-Day Slavery?

We're made to believe that slavery has been abolished in our world, and the fact that it's even illegal to do or get involved in it, and yet one way or another a lot of people have found a way to make it seem pleasant in the face of the law, and one of them is what I'll be talking about today. You see, for many years I can't help but wonder if being a public servant, especially in Nigeria, is truly a privilege like it's painted to be or just a bondage in disguise. I mean, my reasons for saying that aren't far-fetched; on paper we are made to believe they are people who contribute to nation building, but when you take a critical look at things in reality, it's then you realize it's more or less modern-day slavery, and I'd tell you why I think so below.

My dad worked as a public servant till he retired, and presently I do the same, so it's not like I just picked this out of the blue. I'm saying this because it's what I know like the back of my hand. A typical full-time public servant is expected to give up their time, energy, and commitment to the system, but what do they get in return? Peanut, that's the exact definition of their salaries, wages that can barely cater for their survival, not to mention sustaining their family in this harsh economy we find ourselves in. Inflation keeps rising by the day, and when the government makes it seem they're helping by increasing the pay, in reality it's a lie because while they increase wages by two, inflation has gone up by four, which is just ridiculous.

A lot of these people delve into loans to sustain their families. I watched my dad do that, and it's more like I'm walking in the same path, and it's probably one of the reasons I'm looking for a better opportunity so I won't find myself in the same situation as other public servants. Do you want to know why I felt like being a public servant is more like modern-day slavery? Worry no more because I explain that below.

Why is it said to be a modern-day Slavery is how the government has found a way to make it legal to restrict public servants by law from running or managing any private business. I mean, how does that make sense? In as much as you're a public servant, you aren't expected to have a business of your own, even if it means employing people to help you run it. To them, they believe it brings about a conflict of interest, so in order to get public servants' minds in one place, they simply just wrote the law to back up their inhumane treatment. I mean, if at all you want to restrict people from starting up their own business or having a side hustle, then you should at least pay them handsomely enough to not only sustain their families but also give them a good life.

Not to forget how this is a hypocrisy of the highest order, because while the government bids public servants by law not to start up a business and pays them peanuts, they themselves are paid heavily beyond what they deserve, and yet they find a way to still start up a business in different places and register it in the name of their spouse, relatives, and the like, and that's not even to talk about how they go on to influence contracts in their own favor. It's just disheartening that the same law that restricts a common worker doesn't seem to apply to elite politicians.

My take is that even though I can't help but agree on the fact that having two things going will definitely bring about a conflict of interest, I believe the government has the power to prevent their workers from delving into it. I mean, come to think of it, most of the top world nations pay their public servants handsomely, and with that, they've little or no reason to seek a side hustle. And here our government wants the same loyalty while paying peanuts. I believe it's inhuman and more like a modernized form of slavery. Who knows, maybe that's exactly why we're called public and civil servants. I mean, is there a big difference between SERVANTS and SLAVES?

My conclusion and possible solution to curb this modernized slavery is for the government to either pay public servants well or just let them have side hustles that can sustain them financially. Because if we're to say the truth, the government has obviously failed if their purpose of creating this law in the first place was to prevent corruption, because what the law did instead is mainly to trap thousands of honest workers in abject poverty, while those at the top bend the rules in their favor. So hopefully one day the government will do either of what I suggested; until then, I stand by my opinion that public servants feel like they are in slavery masked as service.

All photos are mine.