FEDERAL CHARACTER PRINCIPLE AND PRODUCTIVITY

1.1 Introduction

The introduction of federal character is a tacit acceptance by the Nigeria people and government to achieve its objective. The principle of federal character is a deliberate attempt to ensure that representatives in reflect the diversity of the people that constitute the country or a state and a particular area. Federal character is one of the policies of gaining integration of diverse ethnic groups in the country. The federal character principle which was enshrined in the 1979 Constitution of Nigeria seeks to ensure appropriate linguistic, ethnic, religious and geographic diversity of the country.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

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1.2 Background of Study

Federal character is one of the policies of gaining integration of diverse ethnic groups in the country. The federal character principle which was enshrined in the 1979 Constitution of Nigeria seeks to ensure appropriate linguistic, ethnic, religious and geographic diversity of the country. The introduction of federal character policies in Nigerian state is to foster unity, peace, equal ability to equal access to state resources and promote the integration of the less advantage states for better improvement and good conditions of living in the country (Bamidele and Ikulege, 2004).

David Easton’s definition of politics as “the authoritative allocation of values in a society in a manner in which the political milieu does not break up” is a pointer to the inevitability of conflict in any state. Nigeria as a state which was brought together by European surgery and suturing has always had to contend with one conflict or another from inception. Starting from the colonial period it has been bedeviled with managing ethnic and diverse conflicts. With the attainment of independence in 1960 came a new set of conflicts bordering on governance, resource control, ethnic group domination … to mention a few while the government brought up a welter of actions, ideas, panels and commissions to manage. However, Rothschild and Roeder (2001) stated that in Nigeria, conflict is not linear but rather complex.

The introduction of federal character policies in Nigerian state is to foster unity, peace, equal ability to equal access to state resources and promote the integration of the less advantage states for better improvement and good conditions of living in the country (Bamidele and Ikulege, 2004).

A lot of persons have suffered discrimination as a result of the application of the federal character principle in the time past and at this contemporary age (Guile, 2014). This seriously negates the social objective principle, stipulated in the 1999 constitution (as amended). Chapter 11 and section 14, subsection 3 & 4 of the 1999 Nigerian constitution (as amended) laid the basis of the principle (Gbuile, 2014). The same constitution in section 17 contradicted the rationale of the application of the federal character principle. This is because the section stood against discrimination of Nigerian citizen in whatsoever manners and application. The section gave emphasis on citizenship and in another parlance discourages the usage of Indigene (Duryile, 2007). This development is not a healthy one for the country’s public sector. The principle does not destroyed meritocracy in its entirety but had pernicious effect on productivity. The Nigerian public sector which comprises of both public and civil service have suffered serious setback with the application of the federal character principle (Liebermann, 2008).

Therefore, in National Independent Electoral Commission Abuja where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Federal Character Principle and Productivity.

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1.3 Statement of Problems

Investigation revealed the perennial problem of imbalance in our national life had revolved around other sectors of the economy, the immediate problem which prompted the research to investigate on is the issues relating to the allocation of educationally based positions among the federating units relates to federal character principle which means that all the geo-political zones will be given equal chance for the appointment and output-efficiency as it relates to observation of federal character principle.

In the related development, there have been discriminatory attitudes on many federal institutions in terms of employment into the Nigerian civil service as there are a specific numbers of candidates to be taken from each state. There is also a problem of quota system in the area of employment into the federal civil service, which has introduced mediocrity in the service.

Consequently, there has been gross misconduct in the area of employment due to sectional consciences and nepotism from those in authority in the Ministries and Parastatals. Federal institutions seem to recruit on nepotism and favoritism without minding the effect of such practices to the productivity, efficiency of service delivery and quality of output to the nation. Even when the federal character principle is observed, the institution will not consider efficiency of the candidate hence they are relatives and will not follow the due process thereby cutting corners in the recruitment exercise. All these problems have been a hydra-headed challenge to the Federal Character Commission.

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1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to scrutinize the Federal Character Principle and Productivity using National Independent Electoral Commission Abuja as a case study. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To examine the relationship between federal character system and productivity of National Independent Electoral Commission Abuja.
2. To determine the factors militating against productivity in the National Independent Electoral Commission Abuja.
3. To investigate whether certain federal principle/standard are maintained in the course of recruitment on quota basis in the National Independent Electoral Commission Abuja.

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1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• Are there factors militating against productivity in the National Independent Electoral Commission Abuja?
• Are certain principle/standard is maintained in the course of recruitment on quota basis in the National Independent Electoral Commission Abuja?
• What is the relationship between federal character system and productivity of National Independent Electoral Commission Abuja?
• How does policy and programmes of the government services as strategies to tackle ineffective productivity in public service?

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1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

Hypothesis One

• H0: There are no significant factors militating against productivity in the National Independent Electoral Commission Abuja
• H1: There are significant factors militating against productivity in the National Independent Electoral Commission Abuja

Hypothesis Two

• H0: There is no significant relationship between federal character system and productivity of National Independent Electoral Commission Abuja
• H1: There is a significant relationship between federal character system and productivity of National Independent Electoral Commission Abuja

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1.7 Significance of Study

The study of implications of application of Federal Character Principle for efficiency in the civil service is of immense benefit to different institutions, especially those institutions that needed employment related data for their routine activities. From such research, Federal Civil Service Commission can tell if the character principle is observed in every batch of recruitments conducted by different Federal Agencies and whether such recruitment is orderly conducted through the help of Federal Commission.

This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.

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1.8 Scope of Study

The study focuses on the Federal Character Principle and Productivity using National Independent Electoral Commission Abuja as a case study.

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1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
3. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
4. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

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1.10 Definition of Terms

Federal Character: The system of distributing positions/resources to reflect the ethnic, regional or sectional differences in Nigeria, irrespective of whether the person concerned is the most qualified or not.

Civil Service: Refers to the organization, personnel, practices and procedures essential to effective performance of the civilian functions entrusted to the executive branch of government comprising those public servants appointed on merit on a permanent, contract or temporary basis without any inferences of political considerations for the purpose of executing public policy.

Representation/Representative: A condition which exists when the characteristics and acts of one vested with public functions are accordance with the desires of one or more persons to whom the functions have objective and subjective importance.

Quota: A quota is inflexible number that be reached within a given period of time, regardless of the methods used or the availability of candidates.

National Ideology: A set of concepts, doctrine, beliefs to which the members of a society are committed and which identified the national character of the country; ideology therefore functions to influence and justify certain kinds of behaviours and claims.