‘Federal Character’ Already ‘Debased’, Now Major Obstacle To Development -Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe
Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, who represents Abia South Senatorial District in the senate, has submitted that Nigeria cannot achieve any significant economic growth and development if the current policy of appointing people to government positions based on their ethnic identities rather than merit is sustained.
Team@orientactualmags.com learned that Abaribe, said this during the 41st Annual Olumide Memorial Lecture organized by the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors in Abuja.
It had as its theme, ‘Why not Merit?’.
Abaribe lamented that some public officers have persistently implemented the federal character principle to suit their selfish ambitions through disproportionate assessment modules that do not prioritize merit.
The Federal Character Commission (FCC) , a Federal Executive body, was established by Act No 34 of 1996 to implement and enforce the Federal Character Principle of fairness and equity in the distribution of public posts and socio-economic infrastructures among the various federating units of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
‘It is baffling that the beautiful concept of federal character seems to have been corrupted in our country by some kind of convoluted reasoning, at least given its couching in our statutes and even its practice expectations.
As it stands now, the federal character principle comes out in practice to give incompetence an audacious ride against merit using geo-tribal watermarks and glass ceilings. If the federal character initiative intends to carry every polity along, it should not be corrupted by disproportionate assessment modules that discount merit.
It should rather be that when equities are equal and opportunities fixed, all sections of the country should get relatively equal chances in the fixed opportunity. That way the people who are not qualified don’t get placements in the fixed opportunities merely because they come from somewhere and for that matter displace people with merit’ he said.
Earlier, the NIS President, Mathew Ibitoye, had said the idea of godfatherism, rather than merit and qualification is prevalent in the countr-.Team@orientactualmags.com
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