As war spreads across the Gulf, Nigerian tech workers in Qatar choose to stay
African tech workers in Qatar navigate daily life amid missile alerts and regional conflict, relying on local government support while staying in touch with worried families back home.
When Bella, a Nigerian tech professional living in Qatar, heard that Iran had launched strikes on the country, her first instinct was to sleep. While many might panic, she says it’s not the first time she’s seen the country come under attack in the five years since she moved there.
“I wasn’t really scared because everything was being intercepted, and on the first day, we had started getting the alerts,” she shares. “Before there is any missile attack, we would get an alert showing security levels had been elevated, and successfully they’ve been able to intercept most of the drones that were coming into the country.”
Last year, after strikes by the United States and Israel aimed at Iran’s nuclear facilities, Tehran retaliated by targeting the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. But the current conflict feels very different.
Now in its second week, more than a thousand people have been killed in Iran, including its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The conflict has also escalated quickly, with strikes at neighbouring states resulting in casualties, with some either injured or killed, thus threatening to spill over into a regional war.
Meanwhile, attacks on oil depots and minimal movement in the Strait of Hormuz have led to spikes in oil prices.
Bella is among a growing number of African tech workers who have moved to the Gulf region in recent years, drawn to the lifestyle on offer, better economic opportunities, and favourable tax regimes. In Qatar, expatriates make up nearly nine out of every ten residents, highlighting how dependent the country is on foreign talent and labour.
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Encouraged by expanding government support for technology startups, many Africans have moved to the region to take up jobs or build their own ventures, drawn by a level of stability and opportunity often lacking at home. The war now threatens that stability.
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