NIGERIA:THE NON INDIGENE SYNDROME
A recent report by human right watch, says that Nigerians living in areas where they are not considered as indigenes face all sorts of discrimination, even though they have lived in such areas for a long time.
According to the report state governments regularity deny access to jobs and basic services to such people seen as non-indigenes. They went further to say that is one the major factors that lead to the now regular ethnic and religious violence in Nigeria, as poor communities struggle over control of limited resources.
According to the author of the report, Chris Albin-Lackey in a BBC interviews “it is really a failure of leadership on the part of the federal government of Nigeria that has allowed this to happen”. He went on to say, “by denying non-indigenes access to certain economic and educational opportunities they (community leaders) are seeking the favour of their indigenes.
But, how true is this report? My answer is very true. This is a reflection of the everyday happenings in Nigeria. Everyday Nigerians face all sorts of discrimination in various states and even in the Nigerian federation.
In the early 1980s my dad’s uncle lost all he had (restaurants and houses) in Zaria during ethnic clashes. This happened even though he had lived in Zaria for so many years and was the leader of the community of people from my ethnic group in Kaduna State.The interesting part of the story,was that an indegene of Zaria employed by him fulltime to be responsible of the slaughter of cattles for servicing his numerous restaurants might have learnt about the attacks before it occured but did not inform him.If he had done so may be he would have saved my dad's uncle from losing everything.
This allegation has never been confirmed since the employee has never been seen since then. But this allegation is based on the fact that he did not come to work on the faithful day. Infact according to the story my dad’s uncle was about to send someone to ask after him. However they immediately heard about the riot and fled for their dear lives.
The man returned to his home town with nothing no pensions, no gratuity and no money. He had to depend on his sons and his nephews and nieces for the rest of his life. This was a man who was once considered rich. He died a broken man in the mid 1990s.
In the late 1990s, the Enugu State government introduced a policy that led to thoudsands of non-indigenes in the civil-service losing their jobs. This is now popularly called the non-indigene policy. Proponents of the move then, said that this will create more employment opportunities for the indigenes of the State. These non-indigenes were sacked without any form of compensation (no pensions, no gratuity, and no apologies).
The madness of the non-indigence policy was that even women who were indigenes of Enugu State but now married to non-indigenes also losed their jobs. This policy is still in place till today.
Nigerians face discrimination daily on the bases of ethnicity, state of origin, religion, political affiliation and so on. In Nigeria today gaining admission is easy for people from the northern part of Nigeria while students from the South find it hard to gain admission.
Although the human right watch recommends that the federal government of Nigeria should legislate on the matter in order to end it.But in addition to that and based on my experience of other laws in Nigeria I think proper enlightenment campaign should also be used to educate Nigerians on the need to stop such discriminations.
The successes of Enyimba football club in the Nigerian and CAF champions leagues can be used as a case study. Enyimba FC won the CAF champions league back to back in 2002 and 2003.Enyimba FC have also won the Nigerian league for 4 times in 5 years and is the current champions of the Nigerian premier league.
The successes of Enyimba FC can be attributed to their signing of good players from all over Nigeria and Africa without discrimination.The failure of some clubs that introduces the indigenisation policy in the selection of players in such championships can also be used to show what lies ahead of any state that uses the indigenisation policy as its criteria for selection of human resources.
According to the report state governments regularity deny access to jobs and basic services to such people seen as non-indigenes. They went further to say that is one the major factors that lead to the now regular ethnic and religious violence in Nigeria, as poor communities struggle over control of limited resources.
According to the author of the report, Chris Albin-Lackey in a BBC interviews “it is really a failure of leadership on the part of the federal government of Nigeria that has allowed this to happen”. He went on to say, “by denying non-indigenes access to certain economic and educational opportunities they (community leaders) are seeking the favour of their indigenes.
But, how true is this report? My answer is very true. This is a reflection of the everyday happenings in Nigeria. Everyday Nigerians face all sorts of discrimination in various states and even in the Nigerian federation.
In the early 1980s my dad’s uncle lost all he had (restaurants and houses) in Zaria during ethnic clashes. This happened even though he had lived in Zaria for so many years and was the leader of the community of people from my ethnic group in Kaduna State.The interesting part of the story,was that an indegene of Zaria employed by him fulltime to be responsible of the slaughter of cattles for servicing his numerous restaurants might have learnt about the attacks before it occured but did not inform him.If he had done so may be he would have saved my dad's uncle from losing everything.
This allegation has never been confirmed since the employee has never been seen since then. But this allegation is based on the fact that he did not come to work on the faithful day. Infact according to the story my dad’s uncle was about to send someone to ask after him. However they immediately heard about the riot and fled for their dear lives.
The man returned to his home town with nothing no pensions, no gratuity and no money. He had to depend on his sons and his nephews and nieces for the rest of his life. This was a man who was once considered rich. He died a broken man in the mid 1990s.
In the late 1990s, the Enugu State government introduced a policy that led to thoudsands of non-indigenes in the civil-service losing their jobs. This is now popularly called the non-indigene policy. Proponents of the move then, said that this will create more employment opportunities for the indigenes of the State. These non-indigenes were sacked without any form of compensation (no pensions, no gratuity, and no apologies).
The madness of the non-indigence policy was that even women who were indigenes of Enugu State but now married to non-indigenes also losed their jobs. This policy is still in place till today.
Nigerians face discrimination daily on the bases of ethnicity, state of origin, religion, political affiliation and so on. In Nigeria today gaining admission is easy for people from the northern part of Nigeria while students from the South find it hard to gain admission.
Although the human right watch recommends that the federal government of Nigeria should legislate on the matter in order to end it.But in addition to that and based on my experience of other laws in Nigeria I think proper enlightenment campaign should also be used to educate Nigerians on the need to stop such discriminations.
The successes of Enyimba football club in the Nigerian and CAF champions leagues can be used as a case study. Enyimba FC won the CAF champions league back to back in 2002 and 2003.Enyimba FC have also won the Nigerian league for 4 times in 5 years and is the current champions of the Nigerian premier league.
The successes of Enyimba FC can be attributed to their signing of good players from all over Nigeria and Africa without discrimination.The failure of some clubs that introduces the indigenisation policy in the selection of players in such championships can also be used to show what lies ahead of any state that uses the indigenisation policy as its criteria for selection of human resources.
posted by passyjango @ 11:48 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home