Why we rose against INEC recruitment strategy, by Prof Abdulraheem, Federal Character boss

The Federal Character Commission, as you are aware, is a regulatory authority. It is a creation of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to monitor, promote and enforce equitable distribution of not only the human resources of our commonwealth as it were, but in terms of personnel. We also ensure equitable distribution, monitor […]

The Federal Character Commission, as you are aware, is a regulatory authority. It is a creation of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to monitor, promote and enforce equitable distribution of not only the human resources of our commonwealth as it were, but in terms of personnel. We also ensure equitable distribution, monitor and enforce compliance with equitability in the distribution of socio economic and infrastructural facilities across the nation.

What I am trying to say is that we have twin mandates which is anchored on equitability, fairness and justice in the distribution of bureaucratic and political appointments in Federal institutions and then with distribution of socio economic amenities and infrastructural facilities on the other hand.

The Federal Character Commission as the title will hint, is different from the earlier concept of quota representation. Even though it may be seen as an offshoot of the idea of quota, it is entirely different from the strictly quota preoccupation. The reason is this; quota system, when it was in practice, was a creation of the departing colonial authorities aimed at ensuring that no particular part of Nigeria was left unrepresented especially in the armed forces since the armed forces was supposed to be the backbone of the democracy they were leaving behind. It was therefore, practiced rather arbitrarily.

The concern of the quota system was only with the number of people in representation not with the quality of people that are used in representation. But over the years especially with the emergence of the Federal Character principle, we know that there must be representation but this time, the representation must be qualitative even though we advocate and we ask employers of labour to comply with the principle of equitable distribution and representation, it should not be without regards for the quality of the person.

Therefore, we insist on openness and competitiveness in the selection process into bureaucratic offices.

For instance, we require that any MDA that wants to recruit, must make access open by spreading out the information to be available to all possible eligible Nigerians without discrimination. That one is an open and transparent step that we have taken.

Secondly, in the selection, while observing the need to correct lopsidedness, there must also be taken into consideration, the need to enforce merit; that only persons fit and proper should be recruited into appropriate positions consistent with their kind of academic qualifications. So, we do not countenance any appointment which has shown a blatant disregard for merit. Even within the balancing act, we ask that the best from each particular zone or state of the country be taken. Even when there is a reserved position for that zone, it must be given to the best from that zone. So, we as much as is possible, try to bring the culture of merit to the level of recruitment

But the public has the impression that the commission sacrifices merit for numbers?

That is an impression and it is a very wrong impression and that is what I have been trying to say. It is a very wrong impression because people who make such comments you will discover are people who have not made themselves familiar with the operations and guidelines of the Federal Character Commission. If you are familiar with our literature, you will know that merit is one of the key considerations even while we are doing the balancing and the equitability in the distribution of persons.

The second mandate we will soon get back to. We are still developing the instruments for assessment and we are very close to getting there. You raised objections on the recent recruitment drive by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)

As far as the issue of our recent tango with INEC is concerned, the observation on our part is that sometimes, people have very wrong conception of the powers that they have and they tend to behave and use such powers with impunity.

In matters of recruitment, Federal Character Commission is meant to check such powers used with impunity. INEC was aware and is aware that there is a regulatory body constitutionally established to enforce the mode of recruitment into the Federal Public Service but went ahead claiming some authority in their own law which makes them exempt from compliance with the Federal Character principle. We have told them and not only INEC but every other person who thinks like INEC that even though there is a provision in the same law giving autonomy to you in certain things, such autonomy must not be taken too far.

Even though Federal Character Commission is not going to recruit the staff, federal character is mandated to see the distribution of such staff in INEC to avoid the tendency of overloading particular interest group into INEC which is going to be undermining the entire principle of openness and democracy.

So, we insist that it is our job to monitor and that was what INEC was trying to avoid. Fortunately, common sense has prevailed and INEC has come to recognise that there is a role for Federal Character Commission to play in the recruitment exercise.

Actually, precisely on the 26th of last month (April), the then Acting President now President Jonathan, was so worried about lack of compliance with the Federal Character principle by certain organisations about which he had received reports and he invited me to look at the situation and the difficulty. INEC was one of the problems that we discussed and a few other organisations and he has graciously pledged to support the Federal Character Commission in the implementation of its mandate.

These are areas that we are working on and I believe that with that kind of support we will see better positioning of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs)in their recruitment efforts so that they will all come to the realisation of the original intent of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which envisages ultimately the achievement of national unity through these practices of equity and fairness in the distribution of political and bureaucratic posts.

Does the Federal Character have the power to sanction?     

Of course yes. When the idea of Federal Character principle was first mooted in the 1979 constitution, it was not made justiciable; there was no instrument for enforcement. It was just simply a statement of good intention to how well it would be for all Nigerians to be their brothers keepers. There were no instruments for enforcement. It was simply the duty and obligation of everyone to be his brothers’ keeper. It was only in the 1999 constitution that the idea of establishing an enforcement agency like the Federal Character Commission was actually created by the constitution.

So, we have in the law establishing the Federal Character Commission, the enablement to enforce compliance and in fact, as the last resort, to prosecute offending persons or institutions.

Recently calls have been made over the radio and on television or newspapers by prominent Nigerians for the scrapping of the Federal Character. What have you to tell them?

I think there is a lot of misunderstanding and that is what I have been trying to clear. To remove the Federal Character principle from the constitution is like dismantling the whole of the Federal structure as a political arrangement because it is the wire and the string that is binding the Federal structure.

If you remove the Federal character, you now go back into chaos. It is an essential ingredient; In fact, you cannot have a Federal structure which is not bound together by the Federal Character principle.

In fact, the Ugandan and Sudanese government sent delegations here last year and early this year to understudy how we manage our own federalism through the implementation of the Federal Character principle. So, anyone who is saying something to the contrary must be ignorant about what we are doing here.

Many of the critics would not be what they were if they had not been catapulted into positions of authority through a consideration of delicate balancing of representation of people.

You said the then Acting President, Goodluck Jonathan complained about lopsidedness in representation. What are your assurances to such aggrieved persons?               

What we want to do is basically to get the federal sector in Nigeria to work as supported by the Federal Character principle. We must also recognise that the whole of the political arrangement is a process; it is not a goal that you achieve in one day. Balancing equitability are ingredients of a continuously moving and developing political process.

Our job is to ensure that wherever there has been over favour for a particular community, it is not compounded by subsequent recruitment exercises. So, when you have imbalance, that is redressed through the processes of newly created jobs whereby those who have been favoured receive less from new additions to the establishment than those who have not been previously favoured.

Lastly, what will you tell Nigerians about your tenure so far?      

Even though you don’t have jobs created in the mainstream recruitment agencies like the Federal Civil Service, outside that structure, the Federal Character Commission has been monitoring and making sure that new jobs are created by insisting that employers must make such information about vacancies available as well as practice transparency in recruitment to the extent that over the last 15 months, we have been able to monitor the generation of at least 63 000 jobs across various MDAs in Nigeria. That is one of the areas of strong achievements of the Federal Character Commission.

We have monitored these jobs which have been created and have been properly distributed and it is a continuous process because we insist that every employer of labour must practice transparency, openness and must leave open access to themselves through public advertisements of job vacancies in the recruitment of persons under the monitoring of the Federal Character Commission.