FEDERAL CHARACTER PRINCIPLES AND THE CHALLENGES OF SOCIAL JUSTICE AND NATIONAL INTEGRATION IN NIGERIA
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- NGN 3000
Background of the Study
Federal character principles or quota system of representation became an issue and as a part of constitutional arrangement following major serious disagreement between Northern and Southern leaders over the issue of selfgovernment for Nigeria. In the 1950s, Northern leaders felt that the North needed more time to prepare itself to catch up with the South in Western education and in matters of employment opportunities. In spite of these strong feelings, a motion for Nigeria to be self -governing in 1956 was moved during the March, 1953 meeting of the House of Representatives. The motion was defeated. Later, the Colonial Office in London intervened by convening a constitutional conference in London at which it was agreed to make Nigeria a Federation of three regions; North, West, East and the Federal Capital of Lagos. Residual powers were vested in the regions, in effect making them more powerful than the center. The federal arrangement engendered healthy competition amongst the regions in harnessing national resources for social and economic development of the respective regions. Each region tried also to secure due and equitable shares of 2 resources of the government of the federation, including staff of federal ministries and particularly in the branch offices in the regions. The relative backwardness of the Northern region became even more glaring than ever. It then became necessary for both the Northern regional government and the federal government to embark on special efforts to get Northerners appointed into the federal government services beginning with junior positions stationed in the North. It was in this spirit that the federal government established the federal training center in Kaduna for the purposes of increasing the number of indigenes occupying junior positions in federal establishments in the Northern region particularly in public-oriented agencies such as the posts and telecommunications department. Between October, 1954 when Nigeria became a federation and October, 1960 when it gained independence, the ideal of fair representation of all the regions in federal appointments became accepted, but without specific quotas. However, in recruitment into the officer corps of the Armed Forces and the Police, a quota system was applied. The quota arrangement continued up to 1967, when twelve states were created to replace the regions and the formula was reviewed and applied on the basis of equal numbers for each state. 3 In the case of junior officers in the civil service, emphasis was laid on the staffing of branch offices in the regions (and later in the states) with local indigenes. In this connection, the federal public service commission issued a policy circular in August, 1960, reaffirmed in 1985 and again in 1989, to all federal agencies to recruit local indigenes to fill vacancies at the junior levels. Nevertheless, federal system of government is the knotty issue of the character of the federation. This usually refers to how fair and effective representation can be given to the various component units and communal groups in Nigeria’s institutions, agencies, positions of power, status and influence. Thus, the term “federal character” as observed by Afigbo (1987), “is one of the invention of the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) inaugurated by the late General Murtala Mohammed on 18th October, 1975” (p. 21). It was later transformed into a political and constitutional structure by the 1979 constitution. It has since the mid ’70s become a doctrine in the Nigerian political process. But as a phenomenon it is as old as Nigerian federalism itself. Indeed federal character is a feature of all federal systems of government. Its politics, however, vary from one federation to another. There are two main factors, which make federal character problematic in Nigeria. The first is that, for historical reasons, some states or ethno- 4 geographical areas are relatively more advanced in urbanization and formal western education than others. As a result, the more advanced areas tend to be much more predominant in federal institutions and agencies, especially in bureaucratic and economic positions. This phenomenon or tendency has over the years raised reactions against its unfairness and injustice from the relatively less advantaged or disadvantaged areas of the country. The second factor is that some states or ethno regional areas are quite large in population while others are relatively small. As a result, areas and communities with small population tend to or are bound to lose out in any free for all and unregulated competition and struggle for federal power status and influence. Also, on a personal note, the researcher experienced discrimination and nepotism as a result of “indigenous syndrome”. He was rejected in the institution he was posted to for his primary assignment during his NYSC programme because he was not a northerner. Thus, showing evidence of social injustice. The above two factors manifested themselves in very advanced and varied forms in the Nigerian political system, not only to the national (federal) but also at the state and local government levels. The consciousness of federal character demonstrates itself in practically every aspect of the political, social, cultural and economic lives of the country. Examples include the “proverbial” North- 5 South dichotomy; competition among the three dominant ethnic or nationality groups, feelings of domination and oppression of the minority by the majority ethnic groups, Muslim-Christian dichotomy, indigenes versus non-indigene politics and so on.
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