The issue of gender (in)equality started immediately after Nigeria gained independence, with certain people in a position of authority creating variances of demands personally on their own, to satisfy their selfish interest or desires.

The anomaly, which enabled men to dominate women, continues to negatively impact the participation of women in formal and informal decision-making, especially in the appointment of women to various political positions. Although that has slightly changed, as there are now women lawmakers in both lower and upper chambers of the National Assembly, etc.

Taking a historical approach, this write-up examines the conceptual and material bases of patriarchy and gender (in)equality in Nigeria. Please take note, this is not an argument for or against or supporting any motion, it is a practical way of addressing these issues, and giving a profound solution.

The main challenge the labour market has fazed or is facing now is due to the segmentation/segregation of Nigeria under the less-privileged. That is a poverty-stricken nation. So, you can conclusively derive that Nigeria's economy is bad generally and is one of the poorest country in the world, according to the most recent statistics showing and critically analysing the poorest countries around the globe.

One other solution also is to adopt the basic needs approach which was introduced by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in 1976, mainly in reaction to prevalent modernisation and structuralism-inspired development approaches, which were not achieving satisfactory results in terms of poverty alleviation and combating inequality in developing countries. It tried to define an absolute minimum of resources necessary for long-term physical well-being. The poverty line which follows from this is the amount of income needed to satisfy those basic needs. The approach has been applied in the sphere of development assistance, to determine what a society needs for subsistence, and for poor population groups to rise above the poverty line. Basic needs theory does not focus on investing in economically productive activities. Basic needs can be used as an absolute measure of poverty.

Proponents of basic needs have argued that elimination of absolute poverty is a good way to make people active in society, so that they can provide labour more easily and act as consumers and savers. There have been also many critics of the basic needs approach. It would lack theoretical rigour, precision, be in conflict with growth promotion policies, and run the risk of leaving developing countries in permanent backwardness.

I will rather radically analyse and evaluate the simple terms these rising issues can be completely curbed with, not the mindset of corruption or any form of an ulterior motive and a new different approach and orientation package should be exercised for a different part of the economic sector. That being employed by any organisation should only be based on merit, according to an individual’s curriculum vitae, theoretically and practically.

When this write-up is concluded, I really do hope my contributions will be considered and, some, if not all my valid points, would be adopted for the economic progress of Nigeria, to move forward to greater heights.

There are two ways and as I said earlier, it is not an argument of ‘for’ or ‘against’ or supporting any kind of motion, it is a very dicey situation. There are the most recent headlines on the tabloids and on social media. For example, the “sex for grades” scandal by lecturers in our universities, where victims of such have already created an evil mindset in the heart of those women that fell victim that when they are done with school, they can easily get jobs by offering their potential employers their bodies to get jobs.

The second situation is for the male counterpart. That is why my emphasis is based on the dicey situation I pointed out earlier, as a majority of the populace knows that if you are not connected or knows someone that knows someone else you will never be gainfully employed.

Even when you do not know anyone and you are fortunate to get to the organisation for an oral interview: Where the interviewer is female, she also could literally ask the man seeking employment at her firm a condition. That is, if you do not copulate with me I will not offer you the job. We all know that these things happen oftentimes around us daily hence we do not like to talk about it. Despite the unbelief of such scenario, if it happens to a victim around you, yet it's actually happening daily: from the men to the ladies and vice versa.

So, such an evil mindset has keyed into most minds and totally changed their ways of thinking before they get to certain companies to seek potential jobs. They might likely ask you at the firm which individual has directed you to them or told you about the opening at such a firm. This can be better illustrated by a personal experience I had recently.

As an undergraduate, I need a part-time job to sustain myself and a few loved ones around me. So, I applied for the post of a security operative at one of the most reputable financial institutions around us. I had to settle for it temporarily, pending when I will complete my programme at NOUN. When I got to their head office on the said interview date or screening exercise, as you may call it, the first question I was asked was: Whom do you know in the organisation to have the guts to come for the screening exercise?

In my heart, I felt awkward for a second and also terrible. First, I said to myself: if it was someone else that has no one and literally hopeless, what would be the fate or outcome of such individual? He would definitely be told to go home even when the person is qualified for such jobs.

I gave them a substantial response anyway, that my cousin works with them and applied on my behalf; that he is a top executive in that bank. As a result, I was selected after the final part of the screening.

Now, I am qualified to work with such a firm, according to my skill and accuracy of my CV. But there are some others that have been employed based on their various individual connections at such firm (male counterparts) not qualified, while the qualified ones are exempted. That is why there are total flops at certain organisations when you go visiting because most of the employees are unintelligent and unmerited for certain posts/positions they were hired to work at various firms.

By now, you can connect the dots whereby I said the situation of the gender (in)equality is dicey.

The labour market models in Western economic textbooks do not fit the Nigerian economy, and is also a contributing factor because the writers or authors of such books do not give practical examples about certain economic models of today. It turned out most of them have written those books to suite their readers/audiences for profit maximisation and just basically for their selfish reasons or interests.

One more reason as to why the labour market has been selfishly exploited also is the financial aspect, in terms of various individuals who assumed that having more employees will create more output. That means they will spend more on workers. And now, industries tend to employ less human resource, and the workload on the individual is increased in those various firms, where two or more people can do the same thing.

The permanent solution to this is to rationalise the payrolls that top executives in various organisations earn and redistribute that to other potential employees to be employed in those firms to reduce first and foremost: Unemployment, more work-force for the firm, and improvement of livelihood of such employees in various industries.

Economically speaking, corruption is also one major reason why development is slow because no doubt Nigeria is blessed with all kinds of natural and human resources. But the resources have not been judiciously utilised; that is more reason we have a very slow rate of development.

In the preceding points about the gender inequality in Nigeria labour market, I hope it is insightful enough to change and everyone at large can have changed perception and adhere to the advice-like opinions.

Also, there should be no segregation in any organisation whatsoever. For example, a lady that applies for a position in a firm, where the employer is a male and demands for sex for job or a firm where a man hopes to work and he his merited to the core but was not given a job because he is unconnected to the right people in that organisation.

My conclusion is that to be gainfully employed in any sector of the economy should be based on merit and not with the mindset of less labourers, less salary to be paid; but judiciously distributing the wealth rationally to perfect circulation.

If certain measures are not taken, starting from the grassroots and foundational courses in the textbooks circulated, they will continue to get the wrong information. But with thorough improvement by textbook writers, more practical examples should be used as illustrations for thorough comprehension by students.

•Michael Ayodeji, a student of economics at the National Open University of Nigeria, can be reached via nifty.mics@yahoo.com

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