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Effect Of Federal Character Principle On The Staffing Process In The Nigerian Federal Public Service
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY:
In a
heterogeneous and deeply divided societies all over the globe attempt to
manage their diversities and divisive tendencies through one or
combination of policy alternatives in the management of their public
services for performance and service delivery has been of great concern
in public administration globally (Ayoade, 2000; Abdullah, 2007) . Often
times, these policy alternatives turn out to be delicate arrangements;
but when carefully conceived, crafted and practiced, it provides
opportunity for centre-seeking and centre-fleeing forces to interact
peacefully and co-habit on agreed terms. One of such policy alternatives
adopted for the management of the public service in Nigeria for even
representation is the Federal Character Principle, which “was borne out
of the need to ensure even spread of government appointments in all the
regions, states and local government councils in the country†(Nzeshi,
2012).
Federal character principle is one of the policies of gaining
unification of different ethnic groups in the country. The federal
character principle as enshrined in the 1979 Constitution of Nigeria
seeks to ensure appropriate equal representation of diverse ethnic and
religious groups in Nigeria.
To this end the Federal character
Commission (FCC) was established by act No. 34 of 1996 to implement and
enforce the Federal Character Principle of fairness and equity in the
distribution of public post, socio-economic amenities and
infrastructural facilities among the federating units of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria. The provision of the 1999 constitution of section
14 and 153 also empowers the commission to operate in a democratic
setting (Samuel et al., 2012).
The federal character principle was
incorporated as an employment policy having taken into cognizance the
impervious and insistence demand by each ethnic group, no matter how
small numerically, or how poor materially, or how backward educationally
for a fair and dignified place in the Nigeria sum.
For some time
now, the federal public service has come under criticism because its
performance left much to be desired, knowing that the Federal public
service is a body without which the business of government would be
impossible to operate. Many attribute its inefficiency to the adoption
of the Federal Character Principle which they believe negates the
administrative ethics of merit system –skill, qualification, experience
through training which are the basic criteria for efficiency. Therefore,
the undertaking of this research will analytically assess theEffect of
Federal Character Principle on the Staffing Process in the Nigerian
Federal Public Service with a special reference to Federal Road Safety
Corps (FRSC).
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:
The federal
public service is expected to be administratively competent, politically
neutral and imbued with the spirit of service to the community
(Olugbile, 2014 and Sanusi, 2012); hence the need to employ well
educated, skilled and experienced people. But unfortunately for
political reasons, the federal public service in Nigeria is found
combining the administrative ethos of merit and political doctrine of
federal character as a recruitment policy that is not necessarily
directed towards better service delivery.
The awkward application of
the federal character principle tends to pose challenges to
administrative effectiveness in the Nigerian public service through the
circumscription of merit. Such practice of the principle of federal
character in personnel procurement without due regard for merit is more
likely to mire efforts at sustainable development in a society
(Afenifere, 2009).
According to Kwanashie (2002) fear has been
constant in every tension and confrontation in political Nigeria. Not
the physical fear of violence, not the spiritual fear of retribution,
but the psychological fear of discrimination, of domination. He further
submitted that it is the fear of not getting one’s fair share, one’s
dessert.
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]The study critically examined the Effect of Federal Character Principle on the Staffing process in the Nigerian Federal Public Service. Descriptive Survey Design was adopted in the study. A total number of two hundred and eight (208) copies of questionnaire were administered to respondents; while two hundred and three (203) were properly filled and returned for the analysis. Data analysis was undertaken using simple percentage and frequency distribution tables. Spearman’s Rank Correlation ... Continue reading---
