FEDERAL CHARACTER AS AN IMPEDIMENT TO NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH (A STUDY OF FEDERAL CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION)

ABSTRACT: This study examined federal character as an impediment to national development and growth. The study subjects consist of a limited number of sampling units, which represent the target population of the federal civil service Commission (FCSC) Awka. Federal character is a palliative principle aimed at uniting once existed autonomous sub-nationalities through quota system for purposes of equality of opportunities and peaceful co-existence. A sample of 177 staffs was selected from the population using simple random sampling technique method. Data were collected from both primary and secondary sources presented in tables and analyzed using percentages and frequencies. Hypotheses were formulated and tested using Chi square method. It was discovered among other things that, Federal Character Principle and quota system encourage the recruitment of unqualified personnel, which in turns has led to inefficiency in the Federal civil service Commission (FCSC) Awka, it was also revealed that The federal civil service commission does not maintain certain standards in the course of recruitment on quota basis, the study further revealed that Federal Character Principle encourages nepotism in the federal civil service commission Awka. Following the above findings, the researcher has recommended that federal character principle should be applied the way the framers of the policy envisaged. It should give succour to the weak and marginalized, and limit the power of the strong, not to reverse development trend by deliberately putting on hold the progress of the nation through encouragement of mediocrity over merit. The study also recommended that in order to ensure administrative efficiency in the civil service, only competent and qualified manpower should be engaged and where there are qualified people by merit, and then federal character can apply to ensure that no section or state is marginalized.

An Overview of Federal character as an impediment to national development (a study of federal civil service commission)

CHAPTER ONE

• Introduction
  • Background of the Study

One major obstacle to achieving National Development objectives in many African and other developing nations is lack of good governance. Other challenges like poverty, unemployment insecurity, corruption, nepotism, lack of national integration, economic problems among others are functions of lack of good governance. No wonder, for decades, poverty, farming, war and authoritarian leadership have held back an era of African prosperity and stability. As such, there is a deep hunger for governments that are legitimate, honest and effective (Kerry, 2015). The experiences in countries like Somalia, Bukina- Faso, Cote,d’ Ivorie, Congo, Libya, Egypt, Algeria, among others were as a result of absence of good governance. The major form of government that guarantees good governance is democracy.

Nigeria’s economy is government driven where public sector is at the epicentre. For years, service delivery by this sector is seemingly truncated by many factors due to some notable centripetal issues that fundamentally impede output performance in the public sector. Some of the issues are natural while others are artificial. The natural issues are related to ethnic diversity and religious differences (Kukah, 2003, Obiora, 2008), cultural, languages and personal issues (Pilkington, 1956), whereas the artificial issues include, colonial experiences, many years of military intervention (George, Amujo & Cornelius, 2012), corruption (Ibraheem, Umar & Ajoke 2013), neglect to the rule of law and human right violation, disrespect to the core principles of democracy, institutional failure and so on.

Plural and sharply divided societies all over the world attempt to manage their diversities and divisive tendencies through one or combination of policy alternatives in the organization and management of their public services for performance; and Nigeria is not an exception (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 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).

The Federal character Commission (FCC) is a Federal Executive body 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 1999 constitution section 14 and 153 further empowers the commission to operate in a democratic setting.

The federal character principle essentially refers to the recognition of the plural nature of the country in recruitment, distribution of administrative and political offices and power as well as the resources of the country. The essence federal character principle is to allow the composition and conduct of public institutions and affairs reflect the country’s diversity. It is premised on the ground that when national institutions and affairs are reflective, in composition and conduct, of the pluralism of the country then, a sense of belonging is likely to be evoked from the citizenry. It is also designed to mitigate, if not obviate, the bellicose political struggle that characterized previous Nigeria’s democratic systems (Obiyan and
Akindele, 2011).

The phrase “Federal Character” was first used by the late General Murtala Ramat Muhammed in his address to the opening session of the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDCs) on Saturday the 18th of October 1975. Federal Character according to the CDCs report of 1977 refers to the distinctive desire of the peoples of Nigeria to promote national unity, foster national loyalty and give every citizen of Nigeria a sense of belonging to the nation notwithstanding the diversities of ethnic origin, language or religion which may exist and which it is their desire to nourish, harness to the enrichment of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Babura, 2013).

Section 14 (3) of the 1999 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria states that The composition of the government of the Federation or any agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few states or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in the at government or in any of its agencies. Nigeria is a federal society with 36 component states, with a population of over 160 million segmented into over 250 ethnic groups which makes an arrangement that could accommodate the different segments of the country in the public bureaucracy without any segment feeling marginalized such as federal character a necessity (Gberevbie, 2012). Tonwe and Oghator, 2009) write that before the adoption of federal character, Nigeria had introduced quota system into the public service in 1958 with the aim of ensuring equitable representation of various groups in the country.

The main focus of this research project is the Federal Civil Service Commission. The Civil Service is a body without which the business of government would be impossible to operate. The role of the civil servant is so vital that such personnel are expected to be productive, progressive and enterprising; hence the need to employ well educated, skilled and experienced people. But for political reasons, the Federal Civil Service now combines the administrative ethics of merit and political doctrine of federal character as a recruitment policy because of the need for a representative bureaucracy. 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 Civil Service has come under criticism because its performance left much to be desired. Many attribute its inefficiency to the adoption of the Federal Character Principle which they believe negates the administrative ethics of merit system skill, qualification, and experience through training which are the basic criteria for efficiency.

• Statement of the Problem

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 institutions among the federating units and problems of students enrolment in the federal schools as it 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.

The issue of quota system is not left out in our national life, there has been many policies to that effect and institution set up to correct the perceived anomalies regarding formulae for sharing of resources, hence the establishment of Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission and the lingering derivation fund being championed by the Niger-Delta region which there has been out-cry for the derivation formulae in the National Assembly. There is also problem of quota system in the area of employment into the federal civil service, which has introduced mediocrity in the service.

In emphasizing the shortcomings of the application of the federal Character principle in Nigeria, Gboyega (2012) writes that issues of making public institutions reflect the federal character was taken up haphazardly giving rise to arbitrariness and victimization of some unfortunate public servants. Ekeh (2013) taking a similar position argues that “the most radical and damaging application of federal character has been in the bureaucracies and public services of the federation, where permanent secretaries have been kicked around, removed and sometimes dismissed”. The argument of Ekeh (2013) is that federal character principle “has invaded the integrity and standards of public bureaucracy as well as other governmental bodies that normally require some protection against the vagaries of politics”.

Commenting on the negative effects of federal character on public sector performance in Nigeria, Forrest (2006) writes that the implementation of the principle of federal character in the public service “not only led to poor appointments but also enhanced mediocrity rather than merit”. Ojo (2009) writes that federal character principle as practiced in Nigeria is elitist and class biased. Its implementation results to a blurring of the boundary between the pursuits of meritocracy and ethnic balancing, thereby creating inadvertently a multiple system of citizenship in the polity. The principle and its application have brought about the unintended effect of creating situations of ‘elimination by substitution’ which makes it counter-productive; this is undertaken through discrimination in appointment and promotion, as the principle attempts to achieve equality of all states, whereas states are not equal in population, and size of the pool of candidates for appointment.

Tonwe and Oghator (2009) takes the argument further, when they write that “federal character allows ethno-regional patrons and their clients to exploit and mismanage state resources without contributing to any meaningful development”. To promote administrative effectiveness for performance in the Nigerian public service, Utomi (2002) argues that the emphasis should not be on federal character, rather Nigeria needs to engage on the issues of competence, commitment, corruption and conflict of interest and career certainty.

• Objectives of the Study

This major objective of this study examined federal character as an impediment to national development and growth. Specifically the study will;

1. To examine if Federal Character Principle and quota system encourages the recruitment of unqualified personnel, and which in turns has led to inefficiency in the federal civil service Commission (FCSC) Awka.
2. To investigate whether certain standard are maintained in the course of recruitment on quota basis in the Federal civil service Commission (FCSC) Awka.
3. To examine how Federal Character Principle has encouraged nepotism in the Federal civil service Commission (FCSC) Awka.
   • Research Questions

1. Have Federal Character Principle and quota system encourages the recruitment of unqualified personnel, which in turn have led to inefficiency in the federal civil service Commission (FCSC) Awka?
2. Are there certain standards maintained in the course of recruitment on quota basis in the Federal civil service Commission (FCSC) Awka?
3. Does Federal Character Principle encourage nepotism in the Federal civil service Commission (FCSC) Awka?

Purpose Considered :Federal character as an impediment to national development (a study of federal civil service commission)

• Research Hypotheses

In a bid to facilitate this research of Federal character as an impediment to national development (a study of federal civil service commission) and make it more purposeful, the study will test the following hypotheses;

Hypothesis One

H_o: Federal Character Principle and quota system does not encourage the recruitment of unqualified personnel, which in turns has led to inefficiency in the Federal civil service Commission (FCSC) Awka.

H_i: Federal Character Principle and quota system encourage the recruitment of unqualified personnel, which in turns has led to inefficiency in the Federal civil service Commission (FCSC) Awka.

Hypothesis Two

H_o: The federal civil service commission maintain certain standards in the course of recruitment on quota basis.

H_i: The federal civil service commission does not maintain certain standards in the course of recruitment on quota basis.

Hypothesis Three

H_o: Federal Character Principle does not encourage nepotism in the federal civil service commission Awka.

H_i:  Federal Character Principle encourages nepotism in the federal civil service commission Awka.

• Significance of the Study

The study of federal character as an impediment to national development 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 can improve efficiency and contribute effectively to national development and growth. Findings from this study will be beneficial to the various arms of government; it will expose them to the disadvantage and pending quagmire of the federal character principle and quota system.

Furthermore the study will serve as existing literature to those who want to delve much into federal character and quota system. Finally this will give fore knowledge to federal civil service commission on the implication of quota system on human resource recruitment.

• Scope of the Study

The study is meant to investigate federal character as an impediment to national development. The participants of this study are delimited to employees of Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) Awka, Anambra State.

• Limitations of the Study

In the course of carrying out this study of Federal character as an impediment to national development (a study of federal civil service commission), the researcher encountered some difficulties, the researcher discovered that the resources needed to carry out this research was limited, moving from one library to another. Also the questionnaire had to be typed and administered to selected respondents of the organization not as one thought process, it required the personal involvement of the researcher to motivate the worker to fill the questionnaire, explain certain words and answer. Another constraint is lack of total cooperation from the respondents in Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), who was unwilling to co-operate with the researcher because they felt that they had nothing to gain from the study. Another serious constraint is finance, because of economic difficulties Nigeria is passing through, it was difficult to get enough money to achieve ones crucial desires. A research of this nature involves a lot of fund e.g for typing, distributing and collecting the questionnaire, and other necessary data for the study.  Others, when interviewed refused to disclose certain information relating to their organization for fear of victimization from the authority of the organization.

In spite of all these limitations, however, data collected were able to provide enough insight to the research.

• 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.

Efficiency: Refers to an input-output relationship, that is, maximum work achieved for a minimum input of energy or resources.

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.

System: An entity made up of interconnected and interrelated parts.

Organization: Organization is used to mean a system of well-identified jobs, each bearing a measure of authority, responsibility and accountability.