Federal Character Principle: Friend or Foe?

Hello everyone, good morning.

Courtesy: Federal character commission

How're you doing? What's been happening? Well, inflation is still here, prices of goods and services are still skyrocketing, our President was rumoured to have died over the weekend, but a picture has been released of him chilling in London. Someone said that was how the 'rumour' started with an ex-President, which later turned out to be true, hahahaha....Nigerians have no chill!! Also, apparently, the ex President of Gambia allegedly left with 11 million dollars from their Treasury as he fled into exile. 11 million seems like peanuts compared to all the wealth he must have amassed in the 22 years he ruled his country, but what do they say, more money makes you want more money. It is just never enough, is it? Greed!

To the business of today.

In Nigeria, we have the Federal Character Principle which is actually in the constitution, with an Act that led to the establishment of a Federal Character Commission. The Principle states that all states and regions must be represented in appointments and employment into government service. Now, asides the 36 states of Nigeria, we also have the 6 geopolitical zones, which the 36 states are distributed under. Therefore, if there are 6 vacancies for instance, one person should be selected from each of the zones for the available job. Sounds fair and simple, right? However, when it comes to each geopolitical zone, there's still the effort to see that each state is adequately represented, and not have one state  monopolise all the appointments due to a particular zone. This was supposed to make things easier and make all the states feel included and less marginalised, but is that the case?

Granted, the principle sounds nice in theory, but how realistic is the practice and has it helped Nigeria in the long run? In a country that is still developing and the best hands should be hired to pilot the affairs of this nation, does it make sense that a qualified candidate will be overlooked in favour of a less qualified one all in the name of Federal Character? In our schools, especially the Universities, a child from Anambra state will be denied admission even when his scores are high, in favour of someone from, say, Akwa-Ibom state who scored lower marks, all in the name of Federal Character. It doesn't make any sense and is very unfair to those that struggle to work hard and study. Out of the 3 geopolitical zones in Nigeria, 3 are in the Northern part of the country, which only makes sense that more Northerners will get appointments, right? For instance, if we have 12 vacancies, 6 of those will go to the North, who are predominantly Muslims, while the other 3 geopolitical zones will get 2 each. Could that explain why we have a lot of Northerners in positions of authority in Nigeria? Maybe. Whether they are all qualified or not, is a story for another day altogether. 

In my opinion, that should be scrapped! We're trying to develop our country and incompetent, unqualified people are there just because they are from a particular zone? If it is scrapped and appointments are given on the basis of merit and qualification, I bet you will not find the head of an agency or commission who studied religious studies, and without any added degree. Everybody will work hard and not rely on their geopolitical area to help them secure a job or an appointment. I won't apply for a job with the Petroleum ministry or any of its parastatals and get passed over in favour if someone from the South South geopolitical zone who is probably less experienced, but comes from the place where our country's oil is. Everything will be on merit, and mediocrity will no longer be tolerated. Until then, we will keep wailing that Northerners are taking over the country, while we watch other countries move on ahead of us. The best hands should be hired, irrespective of where they come from.

What's your take on this?