Rethinking Segregationist Policies

My lawyer-friend, Timi Olagunju, recently sued President Jonathan and six others over what he called gender discrimination in the YouWin Women programme of the Federal Government. The policy, in its current format, my friend argues, violates section 42 of the 1999 Constitution. Aside the YouWin Women, the recently launched Almajiri Education System by the Federal Government, and the proposed 5000 naira note by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), are, to say the least, segregationist.

The YouWin programme should be for all young Nigerians, irrespective of their gender. The federal government can attempt to bridge the ‘gender gap’, if that truly exists among millions of unemployed Nigerian youths, through a more humane and gender sensitive quota (say 60/40 percent in favour of women). I think that was the method they used for YouWin last year.

Similarly, in the wake of incessant Boko Haram menace in parts of the North, the federal government introduced the Almajiri Education System, whereby potential (future) recruits by religious extremists would receive free primary education and feeding along the line. It is meant to integrate Islamic and Western education. Whereas, like YouWin Women, Almajiri education is meant to bridge some gap, it might end up widening the gap. Just like the YouWin Women would endanger gender equality and promote segregation among our youths, Almajiri education would foster social, economic and religious segregation.

This will be the case because Almajiri pupils would probably not interact with non-Muslims, and definitely not with the children of the rich, who would not send their kids to such schools. To even further worsen the situation, the federal government has promised to replicate the Almajiri schools across the federation! I think the states should be allowed to handle primary education and domesticate/localize it to suit their own cultural and social needs. If left unreformed, the Almajiri Education system would be no different from the segregationist Bantu Education system of the apartheid South Africa.

The third segregationist policy that needs an urgent re-thinking is the proposed 5000 naira note and the coining of 5, 10, and 20 naira notes. Aside the sociological and economic devaluation as well as hyper-inflation that might result from this so-unpopular policy, introducing 5000 naira note will lead to the segregation of Nigerians along social and economic classes. It will widen the gap between the rich and the poor; the very gap between the ‘heavy cash users’ and the ‘heavy coin carriers’.

Effective policies don’t segregate. Effective policies don’t discriminate. For them to be effective and of positive and productive results, policies must be well thought-out and put no barriers among its supposed beneficiaries along social, religious, gender or economic lines. Let those who have ears, hear.

Tunde Oseni, PhD Researcher, Exeter, UK