Toxic Workplaces and Horrible Bosses

On Tuesday 22 March, an article by Tech Cabal about horrible bosses surfaced online, and it particularly highlighted the tyranny that employees at tech startup Bento Africa faced at the hands of co-founder and CEO Ebun Okubanjo. The article detailed the abuse employees met, including name-calling and threats of physical violence at the hands of their boss, whose authority was never questioned even by his partners.
This opened a conversation on Twitter about toxic workplaces and horrible bosses, and many people came forward to share their experiences working with bosses who treated them less than human and how it took a toll on their mental health.
The stories shared were devastating, to say the least, and ranged from being fired for not singing happy birthday to a colleague to being overworked and underpaid.
Many lamented that it was hard to leave toxic workplaces because of the unemployment rate in the country, and people would take whatever terrible thing came their way so that they could survive.
Another employer Daniel Emeka, founder of Black Bamboo Media, who many described as toxic, was named and shamed.
We got some reactions from Twitter, and one Twitter user, @Ebuka_ng, tweeted, “this trend on #horriblebosses goes to prove again that the people are as bad as the government officials they accuse. Little power, and we are seeing demons in human skin.”
@scad_official also tweeted, “The only solace most people have is the salary to sort out financial issues. This is why we always find ways to cope with #horriblebosses & toxic work environment. Nigeria is hell enough but weʼre alive. “
@mijiofficiall tweeted, the fact that you survived a horrible experience doesnʼt
mean you must subject others to it.
Use your advantage & position to transform toxicity, not perpetuate it. And other many Twitter users decried that Nigeria doesnʼt have any effective labour laws and bad employers could get away with anything as a result.