aplus2016:
AGE DISCRIMINATION BY EMPLOYERS IN THE JOB MARKET
[b]Age (i.e advanced age) is known or supposed to be a blessing. But the unemployment challenge in Nigeria now makes it to be perceived as a curse.
It is high time attention was given to this perceived social injustice/oppression- an anomaly called “AGE DISCRIMINATION” by employers in the job market. A practice where youth in an age range are considered unemployable on the ground of age, despite still being able and willing to work, compounds the unemployment challenges and social ills of the nation.
A close attention should be paid to it by the federal law makers and Ministry of Labour and Productivity with the aim of reversing the trend. This will portend well for our society as social ills to a large extent are, no doubt, linked to unemployment. It is a common thing for everyone to always call for peace. But unfortunately, no one or not many ever call for fairness and justice. Peace is not attainable without fairness and justice.
The practice of such age discrimination would have been practicable and appropriate without any backlash in a society where the system works well - a society where social policies/programs exist to take care of all vulnerable or less privileged class. Such policies are only being put in place now but to the exclusion of unemployed youth in age range 35-45, who have suffered unemployment the most and longest.
The age discrimination in Nigeria is now assuming an alarming dimension, with employers setting ridiculously low maximum age limit as 22, 25 etc for recruitment. The matter is made worse, with the federal government(public sector) also toeing the same direction.
The doors of the present administration, it appears, are shut against unemployed youth in the age range of 35-45. By implication, the poor and the “not too powerfully connected” are the target.
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Age discrimination is a current trend that has continued unabated in the Nigeria job market. Not only has the Nigerian government remained silent over it but has also joined the private sector in perpetrating the same act, which is grossly unfair to youth in the age bracket (30-45 or 35-45) as the case may be. Not even the voices of the rights advocates have been heard on this. It thus appears to be a conspiracy of silence.
Such age discrimination would only be ideal in a society where systems work. Society where there are deliberate social policies/programs to cater for the vulnerable at different points, ensuring for instance that children start their education when they should and transit from one level of education to another in smooth succession without loss of time say on account of poverty etc.
The age discrimination has assumed a frightening twist by reason of its extension to areas other than employment for paid jobs as seen in the age range/limit stipulated by the federal government in the following ongoing programmes:
1. Npower by Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity aimed at equipping unemployed youth with skills, among others, to make them employable or do business on their own. Allowable age limit is 18-35.
But technically, the limit is 18-34 as those already aged 35 (i.e. born in 1980) cannot apply, as 1980 is not included in the birth date calendar on the online application form.
2. Youth Entrepreneurship Support (YES) Programme by Bank of Industry aimed at training and providing interest low funding for entrepreneurs. Set age limit is 18-35.
These lofty programmes are seen as intervention in the chronic unemployment challenge of the nation by the present government.
Recall that the unemployment crisis long predates the current administration. Recall also that at certain point in our history, EMBARGO was placed on employment for a long period by successive governments without any social policies in place. Some of these affected youth at that time just concluded their secondary education and needed job (either because they no longer wanted to further their education due to lack of sponsorship or wanted to work for some years and save for higher education). But the jobs were not there- no thanks to embargo and “Nigerian factor” in recruitment in the years that followed employment embargo.
Now that help has come, courtesy of President Mohammed Buhari, the unemployed youth in the age range 35-45 have been alienated. With the doors being shut against these youth, it is a subtle way to tell them “GO AND DIE” or “YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN.” If all the social and economic programs so far introduced by the current administration do not take these unemployed youth into cognizance, are they to expect another program that will specifically target them? Or are they to await help from a government other than the President Buhari government?
All Nigerians are guilty of conspiracy of silence over the injustice and unfair treatment mated out to this class of Nigerian youth as it relates to age discrimination. Not even the legislators (state and federal who are supposedly the people’s representatives) have thought it a matter of national interest because they are comfortable and perhaps, their relations are not affected. Not even the voices of the rights groups have been heard on this.
Everyone is always quick to call for and want to enjoy peace but nobody or not many ever call for justice and fairness. We don’t seem to realize that justice and fairness are prerequisites for peace. How does it sound for a nation to perpetually neglect her own citizens, who became caught in the web/trap of irrational age policies by no fault of theirs? Irrational because the said youth still fall within the working age which terminates at age 60 or 65.Or is it that the nation has conducted a survey and discovered that all youths in this age range are dully employed or engaged in one trade or the other? Indeed, the system has been grossly unfair to them. Ironically, the operators of the system time back benefited immensely from same system with free government sponsorship in education (even oversea) and timely employment etc.
The same people who benefited from free government education, easy and prompt employment and job placement have perverted the same system perpetually. It is to be pointed out that the victims of this age discrimination are largely the poor, who for obvious reasons, such as financial incapacity, were ( and still may be) unable to smoothly transit from one level of education to another on schedule, and where they needed job to work for some time and save money to continue their education, embargo on employment persisted, or where there were jobs, had no money to buy employment nor strong connection to people in power to gain favour in employment etc. The category of people affected (the victims)explains the reason for the impunity and conspiracy of silence.
In absence of necessary social security/policies over the years, it is certain that largely, only the children of the rich in the affected age range could have completed their education on time to beat the so called acceptable/employable age. With the age limit getting even more ridiculously low (as seen in the recent 2016 EFCC recruitment), the gap between the rich and poor will keep widening, as completing education on schedule is largely a function of finance among others.
Social security programmes (such as the N5000 allowances to the very poor) and other intervention policies cutting across different strata of the society are now, for the first time in the history of Nigeria, being implemented by the President Buhari government. But unfortunately, the class of the youth that has borne the brunt of the rot of the Nigerian system the most (especially as it relates to unemployment) in the hands of successive governments has been neglected, invalidated, locked out and left to their fate.
Is this a mere oversight? Perpetual oversight? Is this not height of insensitivity by those who are very comfortable and completely detached from the realities/feelings of the common people of our society?
Long write-up you have there. Couldn't read everything, but I got the idea. Sadly, this is what many people have been dealing with for years. I don't think late education is worth much if you intend seeking employment and do not have prior job experience. That's based on personal experience. I think skills which may not be taught in school are what people should aim for. We now live in a global village. You can earn with certain skills over the Net. blackprowler:
My brother, I am the one you're talking about. I am now weak; I only abuse people now. Nigeria destroyed my life. When things go wrong for you and you're the victim, Nigerians don't pity you - they blame you. I am in my 40s now, wasting away. Do the maths, those in their 40s today are the ones whom Babangida destroyed their teenage and early youth years; they're the ones who had the misfortune of experiencing SAP riots, ASUU wars with FG, June 12, Shonekan riots, Abacha riots. One single generation. If I think back at these things, I start to cry. They destroyed my life. I was the top student in my secondary school WASC. I was from poor and ignorant parents and the first in all my extended family to be brilliant enough to aspire to university (not today when it is now the normal next step open to all clowns, hence the low quality). BABANGIDA corrupted the country and they destroyed JAMB and our results of 1990 became a joke due to leakage (never heard of) of the questions. I've never been the same. The kids of today are jokers. They have NO IDEA the hell we continue to live in. The society almost seems to carry on like we didn't exist. I brought up people in the present generation and can do comparisons. In my days, there were NO scholarships anywhere. Today, there are COUNTLESS scholarships, both by companies, individuals, state governments, Federal Government, both within Nigeria and remarkably, SO MANY ABROAD. There was just this BEA scholarships to the then Eastern Block during my time and the few recipients were either those in the order of having 7 straight A1s or having connections, maybe a total of a few scores of people all over Nigeria and they still pick by state quota and being from Edo, I was already disadvantaged. My life has been a tragedy for the very reason I set out in life to be a good honest boy who cared to have a better future and sacrificed so much for it. It has helped me conclude that THERE IS NO GOD CONTROLLING ANYTHING IN THIS WORLD. Most people will never know what I've seen in this life, hence they won't have a reason to come to that conclusion, except if they had the rare intellectual capacity to examine it. Yours is a touching story, sir, I must say. But whatever happens in this life is not enough for us to deny the existence of God. Our acknowledgment or denial changes nothing anyway. We all face challenges - at least, most of us do. You may be shocked when you hear the story of another. Be strong, sir. No one can maintain sanity or survive in this life without God. |
