The Senate yesterday directed the Committee on Federal Character and Inter-Governmental Affairs to probe Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs)’s compliance to federal character principle in line with Sections 14(3) and 14(4) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
The Upper House had criticised the MDAs of violating the Federal Character Principle in their appointments, promotions and recruitment.
They include the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC). The probe directive followed the adoption of a motion by Osita Ngwu. Ngwu in a motion titled:
“Urgent need to address systemic abuse and ineffective implementation of the Federal Character Principle in Nigeria’s Public Sector”, said the “systemic abuse” had become a persistent challenge in achieving balance and equity in public service.
He said the challenge was due to limited recruitment opportunities, skewed promotions based solely on years of service, and insufficient avenues for worker mobility outside the public sector.
He said the federal character principle, entrenched in 1999 Constitution (as amended) mandates fair representation in federal appointments to reflect linguistic, religious, and geographic diversity of the nation.
Ngwu noted that that Sections 14(3) and 14(4) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) explicitly prohibit the dominance of individuals from a few states or ethnic groups in federal institutions.
He said despite focus on geographical quotas, imbalances persist between institutions, often relocating problems rather than resolving them, while certain regions remain under-represented.
The lawmaker expressed concern that the process of addressing public sector disparities had been undermined by institutional inertia and a lack of accountability, particularly as recruitment at senior levels is influenced more by internal preferences than by merit and fairness.
