‘Vacancy’ everywhere in PH but sad news often follows

Job is scarce but in Port Harcourt, ‘job’ is everywhere, though rumours of sad ending abound too. Most people who knock on gates of corporations and companies only meet ‘No Vacancy’ signs to rebuff them. Those who register at employment agencies wait for years without a call to come for interviews. The meaning is that there are simply no jobs anywhere, but why are there ‘Vacancy” signs everywhere on electricity poles, walls, etc in the Garden City? Hints so far point to eerie destinations and tragic ending.
Nigeria’s unemployment rates are high, jumping to 13.3 per cent in last quarter of 2016, implying that almost 30 million persons are unemployed, seeking jobs that are not there. The situation is said to be worse with the youths as over 45 per cent are idle. To view it more appropriately, in a household of seven adults, only one or two are working. This makes it less than 20 per cent per household. In some situations, most of those recorded as working may be involved in menial jobs; jobs that cannot lift them above poverty lines.
In Port Harcourt, sacking is a daily routine. A source in the Trade Union Congress (TUC) had revealed that in the advent of recession, over 2,500 oil workers had lost their jobs by middle of 2016. To this day, less than 30 per cent of oil engineers still go to the rigs. Mass sack is the order of the day as new list of disengagement roles out every now an then; panic is the word here.
The banks are not left out as failure to meet target is leading to monthly employment review that has left over 5,000 bank workers jobless since 2015. Public sector is better but unpaid salaries are a burden. In some states, they cannot remember when last they were paid.
So, how come some imaginary vacancies are everywhere in Port Harcourt? Even those who work in oil companies and banks have many relations idling away at home. Some of the hand-written adverts scream, ‘Construction jobs’; but where are the construction companies? Yes, there are construction jobs going on in the state on some roads by the state government, but no one ever gets near to those handling the construction jobs because they one must belong to their groups in the first place to get listed for waiting. ‘Strangers’ don’t just get a peep-in. Some advertise, ‘Marketing jobs’, but where are the marketing firms in the first place that are churning out jobs for would-be marketers?
What you see everywhere is ‘vacancy’ and a telephone line to call. Some send text messages inviting you for jobs you did not apply for. Still, many rush to answer the texts even when they did not apply for such a job.
Sad news has always followed these vacancies; some have been duped of sums, some have been raped, but there is worse fate ahead. The other day, a man most of us know too well in PH sent out a warning on facebook. He said someone he knew in Aba had gone to answer one of such vacancy calls.

They were asked to board a bus to the interview location. This way, he said, they ended up in a strange and lonely house in a part of the town with high fences and huge gates. She ended up in a row of persons waiting to go in, but she soon became apprehensive because no one came out to share some hints about the type of questions to expect. She was number 9. She sneaked to the gateman and asked why no one ever came out of the ‘interview’ hall. The man told her she was lucky to come asking and spilled the beans to her. What to do? She was advised to enter into the boot of one one car that was always used for errands. When it was her turn, number 10 had to enter. The gateman was asked to go on another errand and he drove the vehicle out and freed the lady who escaped to narrate her job-hunting ordeal and grace of God on her life. Thus, a warning was sent out to other job-seekers, but how many will hear this?
Many have reported being gathered and robbed or manhandled. Others have responded to such adverts only to fall into the hands of abductors who demanded sums to be freed. One account said the persons were asked to call their people to bail them. There is one notorious centre on Ada George Road in PH. They do not get tired texting to people either for jobs or seminar. Sad stories have always emanated from there.
It is amazing that the fraud unit of the police commands around Nigeria do not seem to do anything about this. They would by now have advised citizens to forward such numbers to them for investigation. Is there anything hard for the police to send detectives to attend such interviews and crack the syndicates therefrom? If a female journalist in BusinessDay could work in a cheese factory for two weeks just to expose a slave labour system in Lagos, why is it hard for the police to track flying numbers used to dupe people on BVN, jobs, etc?
For now, ‘vacancies’ abound in PH and other cities in the east but only death or misery seems to flow from them.