“Many people support or oppose Brexit for different reasons but having lived in the UK for the past nine years and seen how the system has marginalised Commonwealth citizens, I see Brexit as levelling the playing field for everyone. People will no longer be discriminated against because they are non-EU citizens, especially when it comes to job opportunities.” That is the opinion of Dr Stella Oluwaseun, a lecturer at the University of Nottingham, on the significant issue of the day in Britain for all who have dealings with that country.
During my three weeks in the UK, Brexit was the elephant in the room. It is a huge animal described differently by various respondents depending on which part of it they are holding. Brexit has now seen off two British Prime Ministers. David Cameron was against it and lost the polls, so he followed his heart and head and resigned. Theresa May was for Remain, got the nod of her party but could not execute the Leave plan. The party forced her out three years on.
What do ordinary citizens think? What are the concerns of immigrants? Many contend that at the heart of Brexit is a backlash against immigration.
Stella Oluwaseun is an example of the kind of immigrants Nigeria now sends out: highly qualified, technocratic and able to hold their ground anywhere in the world. The then Stella Ndubuisi earned a BSc in Food Science and Technology at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Post Graduate Diploma in Manpower Economics and Planning from the University of Lagos. We met as part of the alumni network.
Stella was gravitating away from the sciences to a keen interest in the social sciences and the public sphere. She left full-time work to run an NGO, Ray of Hope Foundation. Her platform brought hope to street children by taking these disadvantaged ones off the streets and enrolling them in school. They were the urban underclass who sold little confectionery and stuff to support their families.
At her request and following my interest and encouragement, I served as Chairman of the Board. Corporate governance was critical for us as professionals and because Ray of Hope Foundation relied on donations from individuals as well as the scholarships and support of the schools.
As opportunity beckons to the prepared, Stella earned the Ford Foundation scholarship for a master’s degree in International Development Policy at the Ivy League Duke University in the United States. While there, she got the Vice Chancellor’s International Research Excellence Scholarship that covered her fees for the PhD in Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Nottingham Dr Stella Oluwseun teaches at the University of Nottingham and would be starting on a new academic post at the University of Leeds in September.
Is pulling yourself up by the bootstrap part of the appeal of conservatism, I ask this young academic enamoured of Boris Johnson and the Conservative Party? She responded, “For someone who has benefited immensely from globalisation, I am not anti-immigration, as some people tend to see those who support Brexit. I am all for meritocracy. And it was the Leave campaign that positioned Brexit as levelling the playing field for all by recounting how Commonwealth citizens who should have a stake in Britain were left marginalised by EU policies.
For example, EU citizens have freedom of movement within the EU, whereas Commonwealth citizens pay through their noses to gain visas to visit or remain in the UK. Secondly, Commonwealth citizens, regardless of how qualified they are, fell down the pecking order and could only get a job if there was no eligible EU citizen for that role. It got so bad that some employers didn’t bother going through the rigours of meeting the requirements for employing non-EU citizens.
“I remember applying for a job while still a PhD student, but the system was such that couldn’t proceed with the application after the first question, which was if I had British or EU citizenship. But since the Brexit vote, such discrimination in employment is no longer overt because the focus is more on attracting the best talents to the UK these days. Now Commonwealth citizens pay Immigration Health Surcharge yearly so they can have access to the National Health Service in addition to the taxes they already pay whereas EU citizens are not subjected to these laws.”
With her responses, a lesson in citizen response to policy and how it varies, Dr Oluwaseun sums up. “Some support Brexit to take back their sovereignty in terms of the UK no longer being subject to the EU laws and the European Courts of Justice. Some support it because they want to limit immigration to the UK because they believe their social services – schools, healthcare, housing, etc. – are at breaking point. Some because they feel their culture is being eroded, others because they see immigrants as a drain on their welfare system. None of these reasons works for me.
My take is to shift the balance and stop the discrimination suffered by non-EU citizens, especially Commonwealth citizens whose countries gave so much to build the British Empire in the past.
“Leave supporters see many advantages in Brexit. They include control over their laws, freedom to trade with whomsoever across the world and control of immigration using the points-based system. Dr Oluwaseun submits that “Commonwealth countries can build mutually beneficial trading relationships with the UK after Brexit. I think the onus is on Commonwealth countries to start being strategic in terms of how they can benefit from the post-Brexit UK”.
A significant date and decisions await the UK concerning Brexit in October. Deal or no deal?
Chido Nwakanma
