UNEQUAL EQUALITIES.

Unequal equalities.
Racial discrimination, apartheid, gender inequality are all pointers to uneven basis of assessment. To a victim of any of the forms of discrimination, life could be depressing. However, various governments as well as the United Nations have in place one law or the other against different forms of discrimination. For instance, the United Nations has charters and conventions against gender inequality, racial discrimination, discrimination against disabled people.
The 1999 Constitution of The Federal Republic of Nigeria in its Chapter IV employed the use of the phrase “every individual”
Provisions of this nature cut across nations. However, it is painful to note that its aim has not been achieved.
Ordinarily, at the mention of discrimination, what comes to ones mind is the kind of discrimination you face because you are a foreigner in a particular part of the world but it is rather unfortunate to note that discrimination has gone beyond that level. Discrimination and inequality transcend colour and language; they have established themselves amidst people of the same colour, tribe, language and nation. They have successfully manoeuvred their way through all machinery put in place to check them by governments globally.
It is rather unfortunate that despite all that has been put in place by various governments against discrimination for the promotion of equality, there has been a next- to- nothing accomplishment. In some parts of the world, it is impossible for you to get a job because of your colour. At the same time, your accent also serves as a barrier to your getting a job, despite the United Nations International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. How do we describe the recent outburst in the United Kingdom that British jobs should be for Britons? This is an indirect way of saying that foreigners should leave Britain. And as such, one is forced to query the reasoning behind such an outburst in a global economy.
The Welsh Assembly Government is professing minority equality yet, according to unconfirmed information, the only black person working in the Welsh Assembly is a security guard; what an irony! It not out of place to think that all these are common knowledge, but, how about situations in which discrimination and inequality stares at one in the face in one’s home country.
In Nigeria, Higher National Diploma graduates are not considered for employment in some companies despite the fact that they are better qualified than the so called B.sc holders. Also, once you are not from a particular tribe, your chances of getting a job in some companies are low if it exists at all. At the same time, it does not matter how qualified and experienced you are for a particular job or position, in as much as you are not the candidate of the big guns you would never be shortlisted for the job.
How do we explain the fact that in most banks in Nigeria, any member of staff that has spent 25years and above is automatically considered a non performer even when such a person is really performing; or the fact that before a staff could be considered for a position such a staff must know someone who could bring millions of naira to the Bank’s coffers.
Most cruel is the yard stick used in assessing you once you pronounce your faith in public. It is saddening to see that what one would have done or said without being noticed before pronouncing one’s faith now becomes an issue for deliberation once your faith is known. And such could attract sanctions.
It is heartbreaking when the effect of discrimination and inequality is considered in societies professing them. Discrimination and inequality are cankerworms that have eaten deep into the fabric of nations across the globe. They have found their way into every facet of life and have found their comfort zone amidst us. We watch dismayed at the level of decadence in societies as a result of the unaddressed discrimination and inequality pervading the society. It is not a thing of joy that governments pay lip service to this issue only by rolling out statutes that have over time gone unimplemented.
Societies are in bondage of inequality and discrimination because they have dwarfed merit and creativity. They have relegated patriotism to the background. Merit based recommendation and commendation are no longer in our dictionaries rather we have recommendations and commendations that are based on favouritism and affiliations.
What we are saying is that we should all wake up to the bitter truth that discrimination and inequality are issues that have gone beyond colour and languages, it is a vice that dines with us, we live, eat and drink it. It cuts across the globe. Governments should put aside their hypocritical approach to it and tackle it with sincerity. Stringent measures and sanctions should be put in place. Public policy that encourages reporting issues of such nature should be put in place.
However, the citizenry of various nations have roles to play as well. It is pertinent that we all realise that equality starts from us; from our minds, our ability to put ourselves in other people’s shoes will go a long way in solving the problem. We want the statement “ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS” to remain with Animal farm and not a statement of fact amongst us human beings.

Mayowa Awosika
2009