The illusion of equality - by Innocent Benedict

The Abuja Fake Life: Where You Live Determines Your Respect( classism) They say you can easily judge a society by how it treats people who are struggling on the streets.(A saying from a scholar)When Abuja was being built the idea was for it to be one city where everybody could mix. On the surface it looks great fine roads, massive bridges, really beautiful houses.. Look closely and you’ll see the real problem eating the city Classism. It’s not about who has money and who is broke; it’s the way people look down on you. It determines who gets respect and who gets ignored. In Abuja your entire worth is tied to one question: "Where do you stay?If you say you stay in Maitama, Asokoro, Utako,Guzape and Katampe new extension. everybody suddenly respects you. You’re automatically a boss. Tell them you are coming from Gwagwalada, Zuba, Kwali Kuje, Bwari, Nyanya, Kubwa or Mararaba? The disrespect is instant. Before you even explain yourself they’ve already judged you. Decided you don't matter.You see this happening everywhere. Just dress normally. Walk into Jabi Lake Mall or any of those high end spots in Wuse II. Security guards will be monitoring your every move like you came to steal. But let somebody else show up in clothes even if the money isn't legit they will treat them like a VIP. It looks like a thing but it hurts.When it comes to looking for jobs the system is unfair. People think Abuja is a place with many opportunities. But it’s not about what you know; it’s about who you know. One hardworking guy from Kubwa will apply for jobs but somebody child in Maitama will just make one phone call and get the same job. It’s not about who's smart; it’s strictly about connections.Relating this to something interesting and shocking that happens to me as I entered Abuja as a student then, there was this moment my school misplaced our results on the portal,it happens that most of us our results was misplaced with other people. To our greatest surprise, people that we had the same issue with or let me say their issues were far bigger than our own were attended to within 5 minutes of their entering into the office of the ICT official. Because they came down from a fancy flashing car and they knew someone in the Senate building that only called for instant rectification of their problem.While we that had nobody to call , keep going to that office everyday, until a certain professor saw me and was like know you somewhere he said (how's your aunty Mrs. Bature) then I responded instantly” she's fine sir” because I remember the man coming to the house I was living then with my aunty and he was a friend to my aunty's husband.There I relate the story to him, then, they had our issues resolved.So I began to wonder how people without connections survive in such an environment.Look at the morning rush. Thousands of people suffer in that Nyanya-Mararaba traffic every single day. These are the people running the businesses sweeping the offices and keeping Abuja alive!. Because they are taking public transport nobody respects them. Meanwhile just owning a car in this city makes you feel like a shot.Even trying to have fun is stressful. Going to weddings or weekend parties is no longer about celebrating; it is a show of who has the money. You must buy clothes, drinks and dress a certain way just to fit in. Social media makes it worse by showing off luxury and making normal hardworking people feel like failures.The saddest part isn't the poverty; it’s the fact that we have accepted this as normal. When we start respecting people because of their shoes or their address we’ve lost our humanity. Conclusion:If we want things to change it starts with our mindset. We need to stop judging people based on how they look. Bosses need to start hiring based on skills, not who brought a letter from a Senator.. The government needs to develop these satellite towns so people don't have to live like second-class citizens just because they can't afford rent in the city center.At the end of the day Abuja is nothing, without the people. If we keep dividing ourselves into "the elites" and "the rest," all those tall beautiful buildings are empty monuments.

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