LANGUAGE OF SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC INEQUALITIES IN PEACE BUILDING: LESSONS ACROSS NIIGERIA

Abstract

In the African traditional societies no man exploited another man’s labour. Poverty was also not life threatening. The internalization of norms and values through socialization was what guided community members in their daily interactions. It is unfortunate that poverty is attributed to laziness when most of the forces creating poverty are essentially social in origin therefore can be reversed; Members of a society generally, share a common language which facilitates day to day activities. Peace relates to an individual’s, state of mind which is holistic in nature. The study used six-tier model structure to describe the social and economic inequalities in the Nigerian society. Social mobility was discussed; the reasons for upward social mobility and downward social mobility were discussed too. Functionalist theory and conflict theory were reviewed and conflict theory was adopted as the theoretical frame work of the study. The consequence of social and economic inequalities included: malnutrition, denial of education, social Isolation and the effects of poverty etc. The sources of conflict included: modernization, non-observation of rule of law, ethnicity, modern social control, religious differences, fair of domination and urbanization. Solution to conflict resolution included: equitable revenue allocation, national conference, gender equality, poverty alleviation programmes. The conclusion was that poor governance was responsible for Nigeria’s undesirable situation. Globalization has widened the disparity between the reach and the poor. The study recommended that poverty is less a failure of the poor than failure of policy maker to grasp their potential. We should therefore seek to forge a closer connection between the issue of poverty and sustainable development.