Before the start of the 2022 Fifa World Cup, President of the giverning football body Gianni Infantino said that migrant workers should feel dignity and pride as they were about to contribute to the biggest sporting event in the world. According to a latest report in The Guardian, migrant workers who came from West Africa – Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Niger are practically jobless following the conlusion of the FIFA World Cup.
In his media address, had Gianni said that even his parents migrated from Italy to Switzerland. "When you give work to somebody, even in hard conditions, you give him dignity and pride. It’s not charity", he said.
According to the source in The Guardian, job opportunities are not picking up post the FIFA world cup for the migrant workers. A worked from Guinea who was interviewed for the story said that he hasn't eaten in two days. "I haven’t eaten for two days. Ironic, isn’t it? We are in the richest country in the world, but we are begging for money from Africa", he stated.
This is probably the dark side of hosting mega-events in countries with less livelihood. Because in the wake of such events and promotional campaigns the placements that happen are temporary and not situational.
In the interviews that the media house conducted, workers from Nigeria said that they had duped huge sums to enter Qatar on Haya cards, which was the permit card required at the time of the FIFA world cup to enter the country.
“I used to eat three square meals at home but here it’s difficult to get one. I have been calling friends in Nigeria to help me. I have not earned a single rial since I entered the country. We’re all regretting coming here,” said one of the migrant workers.
The peninsular Arab nation is facing severe criticism as the news of hardships faced by migrant workers is coming out in the media. As the Qatari authorities and Fifa president promoted this collaboration of bringing in foreign workers as a 'catalyst for change'.
“There is genuinely no work here now. No one is recruiting. There are only so many highways and roads that they need,” the source who works in the construction line in Qatar, said.
(Edited by : Jerome Anthony)
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