What is federal character principle in Nigeria?
We all know that the Constitution of the country is the main law document. In this article, we will describe one important statement from this document. We will answer the question 'what is federal character and how does it work'.
Federal character principle in Nigeria
The federal character was stated in Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution. This statement is to ensure the principle that all public service institutions fairly reflect the linguistic, religious, ethnic, and geographic diversity of the country. Here are the lines from the constitution:
…the government of the Federation or any of its 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 that government or in any of its agencies.
The main idea is to create conditions where no tribe is favored above another. But this principle has also received negative feedbacks, Nigeria's Deputy Senate President claimed that:
...regrettably, the federal character has become a euphemism for recruiting unqualified people into the public service....
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There is still no equality in this question, according to Federal Character Principle In Nigeria, majority of federal government appointments and jobs are given to a particular ethic group in the country.
The Federal Character Commission is one of the executive bodies, the commission was established by the Section 153(1) of the 1999 Constitution. The principle of the commission is set in Constitution. The commission should monitor the implementation of rules and principles proclaimed in federal character.
Federal character Nigeria is an important statement that aims to uproot social inequality, but the real data shows that there is still a lot of work to be done on this issue.
Source: Federal Character Principle In Nigeria
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Source: Legit.ng
