Since the 2015 adoption of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), The United Nations’ Division for Sustainable Development Goals has been responsible (in addition to advocacy) for the evaluation of each country’s progress of the UN’s global implementations. SDG 10’s purpose is “Reduce inequality within and among countries” (Sustainable Development, 2022). Along with setting the goal, the UN has developed 10 targets, each containing key performance indicators (KPIs) to monitor each country’s progress annually.
According to the UN, “inequalities are not only driven and measured by income, but are determined by other factors – gender, age, origin, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, class, and religion” (United Nations, 2022). More than 71% of the world’s population lives in a country where inequality exists. Wealth inequality or income disparity increases each year with a growing number of billionaires controlling more personal wealth than more 50% of the world’s population.
Such is the case with Nigeria, which ranks 139 out of 163 countries (bottom 15%) for sustainability development and inequality plays a serious role in deterring their sustainability progress (Sachs, Lafortune, Fuller, Woelm, 2022) In a similar 2022 report, Nigeria ranked 100 out of 163 countries (Chancel, Piketty, Saez, Zucman, 2022). In both reports as well as the UN’s information, the lack of quality of data makes it increasingly difficult to get precise measurements on Nigeria’s status.
However, inequalities are very present in Nigeria. For the purposes of this discussion, we will focus on a primary contributor to gender inequalities, why it exists and persist in Nigeria, and what initiatives are helping Nigeria create more equitable roles in their society.
Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country with over 218 million people in 2022. Their population is made up of over 300 ethnic groups and they distributed among the following groups: Hausa and the Fulani ,Yoruba, Igbo or Ibo, Ijaw, Kanuri, Ibibio, and Tiv (Yusuf, 2016). Their democratic governance is primarily denominated by the Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba and Igbo. These same three groups are the most educated and they control most of the country’s wealth. Their private fortunes are directly or indirectly tied to oil/natural gas production and its export. Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer, and their economy heavily relies on the exportation. 85% of the government’s income is derived from oil (Ekeghe, 2022). With dominance over the economy and the government restricted to select groups and individuals, a majority of Nigerians are suffering from poor education, lack of healthcare and scarcity of opportunities due to gross mismanagement, misallocation, and widespread corruption.
As previous mentioned, the state of education for Nigerian children is very poor and girls are deprived of education at a much greater rate than boys. Of the 10+ million “out of school” children, nearly 66% were girls. To add insult to injury, because of insurgent conflicts and the COVID-19 pandemic, over 900 schools were closed in the northern part of Nigeria in early 2020. The government instituted emergency measures with “School on Air” program, broadcasting via television and radio stations (Ossai, 2021). However, early reports indicated a significant disparity of girls being deprived of remote education to perform domestic work at home.
Numerous studies have concluded that improving education for women and girls improves the economy, mortality rates, and reduces inequality locally as well as nationally, regardless of the country. Education is a key metric in measuring positive actions towards reducing gender inequality.
As of 2022, The Nigerian government has not developed progressive education legislation to establish a national education system with standards and proper funding to educate Nigerians. NGOs, such UNICEF, Global Partnership for Education, The Malala Fund, and MAYEIN are innovating Nigerian education through initiatives done in partnership with local communities.
In 2020, UNICEF in Nigeria and Global Partnership for Education received a $140,000 grant to establish an online digital learning platform, bolster television and radio educational broadcasts, and provide printed take-home educational materials. In addition, this initiative is providing resources to improve digital data collection efforts (Global Partnership for Education, 2022.)
The Nigerian chapter of the Malala Fund has been advocating educational changes in the Nigerian government to improve and fund education throughout the country. In 2017, the Nigerian chapter successfully lobbied for an amendment of the UBE Act (Compulsory, Free Universal Basic Education Act, 2004) and they working to get the act passed and financed (Malala Fund. 2022).
As previously mentioned, the Nigerian government suffers from corruption and mismanagement. Although the UBE Act is law, enforcement is laxed, mostly due to funding issues, in many parts of Nigeria. The Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP), with a grant for from the Malala Fund, is supporting local UBE Act enforcement to monitor and keep girls enrolled in school (Tretler, 2020).
Mentoring Assistance for Youths and Entrepreneurs Initiative (MAYEIN) promotes “solid literacy, e-Literacy and Positive Youth Development (PYD) programs reaching over 5000 educationally disadvantaged children and youth across poor communities and public-school settings in Nigeria’s South-West region” (MAYEIN About Us, 2022). Among their initiatives is mobile library that serves the Oyo state with over 800 participants. In partnership with Youth Hub Africa and the Malala Foundation, they have engaged thousands of “adult gatekeepers”, pledging to keep girls in school.
These initiatives as well as similar ones are providing a lifeline for today’s girls while promoting positive social and societal changes towards the role of women in Nigeria. Examining the makeup of these organizations, most of the advocates are women empowered to drive these changes.
However, the real change required is in the Nigerian laws and the government. Women and girls are treated as second class citizens in Nigeria. In 2022, five gender equality related laws were rejected outright. Protests erupted and the bills were given a second chance. However, when a second vote was taken, there were insufficient votes to pass the bills (Obadare, 2022).
Is Nigeria on the right path to improving their inequality issues? Conclusively, NO.
The economic, societal, gender, and ethnic inequality issues are contributing greatly to Nigeria’s instability and persistent impoverished state for much of its population. Democracies require fair representation, which at least in theory, will establish laws to safeguard the welfare of the population. Given the current state of Nigeria, I cannot see a possible way for those changes to occur without outside pressure from other governments.
Although outside intervention doesn’t seem likely, the Nigerian instability threatens the economic stability and national security of the largest world superpowers, the United States and China (Kuznar, 2019) The political pressure required to change could come from either or both governments but at this time, there are no publicly known initiatives in this regard.
Current grassroots initiatives, funded primarily by non-profit organizations are producing innovative programs to address the country’s inequalities, especially in the critical area of education. They are producing results and more importantly, they deliver hope.
I’d like to conclude with a personal observation on these organic innovations. The ideas and their implementation should be local in nature. Individuals suffering from inequalities did not chose this path in their lives. It was forced upon. However, the path to equality should be a democratic one of their own making.
“It is an empowering feeling: Imagine a positive Africa—creative, technological, and scientific in its own way” (Mavhunga, 2017).
The funding should be provided to empower innovation, not direct it through funding stipulations, which happens frequently with large philanthropic contributions. Instead of a “my money, do it my way” approach, grassroots ideas need to be funded, guided, and nurtured to develop into home-grown innovations that address local problems by those affected directly.
Bibliography
Chancel, L., Piketty, T., Saez, E., Zucman, G. et al. World Inequality Report 2022, https://wir2022.wid.world/www-site/uploads/2021/12/WorldInequalityReport2022_Full_Report.pdf
Compulsory, Free Universal Basic Education Act. 2004. International Labour Organization. https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex4.detail?p_lang=en&p_isn=87623&p_country=NGA&p_count=253
Ekeghe N. 2022. Replacing Oil as Mainstay of Nigerian Economy. This Day Live. https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2022/08/31/replacing-oil-as-mainstay-of-nigerian-economy/
Global Partnership for Education. 2022. Nigeria: Keeping boys and girls in school and learning. https://www.globalpartnership.org/where-we-work/nigeria
Kuznar, L. 2019. Nigeria Inequality Report. NSI. https://nsiteam.com/social/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/NSI-Aggrieved-Populations-Reports_Nigeria-Country-Report_Final.pdf
Malala Fund. 2022. Nigeria accounts for 45% of all out-of-school children in West Africa, with over 10 million out-of-school children. https://malala.org/countries/nigeria
MAYEIN About Us. 2022. Mentoring Assistance for Youths and Entrepreneurs Initiative (MAYEIN)https://mayein.org.ng/about/
Mavhunga, C. 2017. Introduction: What Do Science, Technology, and Innovation Mean from Africa? MIT Press. https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262533904/what-do-science-technology-and-innovation-mean-from-africa/
Obadare, E. 2022. Nigeria’s Struggle for Gender Equality Gathers Pace Amid Protests. Council on Foreign Relations. https://www.cfr.org/blog/nigerias-struggle-gender-equality-gathers-pace-amid-protests
Ossai, E. 2021. Education in emergency in Nigeria: Creating gender equitable policies so all girls have an uninterrupted right to learn. Brookings Institute. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/education-plus-development/2021/07/27/education-in-emergency-in-nigeria-creating-gender-equitable-policies-so-all-girls-have-an-uninterrupted-right-to-learn/
Sachs J. Lafortune Kroll G. Fuller G. Woelm F. Sustainable Development Report 2022 From Crisis to Sustainable Development: the SDGs as Roadmap to 2030 and Beyond. Cambridge University Press. https://dashboards.sdgindex.org/profiles/nigeria
Sustainable Development. United Nations’ Department of Economic and Social Affairs. https://sdgs.un.org
Tretler, M. 2020. How Pamela Okoroigwe, a lawyer for LEDAP, works to ensure Nigeria’s laws protect education for girls. Malala Fund. https://malala.org/newsroom/pamela-okoroigwe-legal-defense-and-assistance-project-laws-protect-education-for-girls-nigeria
United Nations. Inequality – Bridging the Divide. (January 2020). https://www.un.org/en/un75/inequality-bridging-divide
Yusuf, R. 2016. Ethnic inequality in Nigeria. McDaniel College Budapest https://mcdaniel.hu/ethnic-inequality-nigeria/