North Africans eying past construction (9)
I believe the answer is:
egyptians
'north africans' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'eying past construction' is the wordplay.
'construction' indicates anagramming the letters (answer constructed from certain letters).
'eying'+'past'='eyingpast'
'eyingpast' with letters rearranged gives 'EGYPTIANS'.
(Other definitions for egyptians that I've seen before include "Yes, taping the North Africans badly" , "Pet saying about some who come from North Africa" , "Natives of Cairo, say" , "population at Memphis for example" , "locals in Memphis?" .)