The Federal Character Policy and Technology development in Nigeria; problems and prospects

   

     Every state has its own development challenges...the problem is how to deal with the unintended consequences policies throw up NOT to shy away from them. This work seeks to thoroughly review federal character principle as it affects technological development; if it has been a bane or a boon to it. If has been disadvantageous to it, we want to know why, how, and where, as well as to know what the future holds with the continual implementation or abolition of the federal character policy.

      To achieve this in this work, we have had to journey into the past, to find out the origin of the federal character policy, the background or prelude to its being established in Nigeria. We also look at the problems created by this policy, why it became a problem in the first place, and finally the way forward. This paper ultimately unveils the loopholes in the policy and how they can be plugged in other to build a more resourceful, viral, peaceful, and well governed Nigeria-the bedrock of technological development!

                                

                                            CHAPTER ONE

1.1 INTRODUCTION

        Merit is the sine qua non in life. It ensures competition and healthy one at that. Of all the constraints on the Nigerian democracy, perhaps none has inflicted a more serious drag on the pace and direction of Nigeria’s development than her official devaluation of merit and excellence as the price of her existence, than the Federal Character Legislation. This legislation brought into being the Federal Character Commission, which supposedly monitors and enforces the above Federal Character Principle especially in appointments into all Federal Government Ministries and Extra-Ministerial Agencies.

     This Federal Character Legislation, put up to ensure equitable sharing of posts and resources among its federating components is one of the Federal Executive Bodies established by section 153 0f the constitution. There is however discrimination as that legislation is not fully complied with, since some zones receive more funds than others. This is because some of the factors used to determine who gets what are not only irrelevant, but go against the tenets of justice, fair play and anti-domination; which the Federal Character Commission is supposed to enforce. For instance, when a factor such as landmass is promoted and given greater emphasis at the expense of population density which represents the true needs of a state, it means that some states are given undue advantage. This means that the most densely populated states have had to suffer grave inequality at source.

      This conceived inequality in the appropriation of the nation’s resources not minding who produces what, has led to gross unrest and fighting in the Niger Delta and increased the incidence of agitation of fundamentalist groups such as MASSOB (Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State Of Biafra), MOSOP (Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People), OPC (Odua Peoples Congress), AREWA, MEND (Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta), etc.

1.2 DEFINITION OF TERMS

1. Federal: - Having a system of government in which the individual states of a country have control over their own affairs, but are controlled by a central government for national decisions. It could equally be described as the type of government binding a group of federating units.

2. Character: - All the qualities and features that make a person, groups of people, and places different from others.

3. Policy: - A plan of action agreed or chosen by a group. It can also be defined as a principle that a person or a group of persons believe in, that defines or influences their outlook and behavior.

4. Technology: - Scientific knowledge used in practical ways in industry.

5. Development:-Gradual growth of something so that it becomes more advanced. It can also be described as the process of producing or creating something new or more advanced.

6. Nigeria: - Nigeria, officially named the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising thirty-six states and one Federal Capital Territory. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in the north. Its coast lies on the Gulf of Guinea, part of the Atlantic Ocean, in the south. The capital city is Abuja.

          

                                         CHAPTER TWO

2.1 ORIGIN OF FEDERAL CHARACTER

Prior to the formation of the federal character policy, the colonialists used the principle of Native Authority. What the federal character principle simply did was to extend the colonial principle of Native Authority to key institutions in the federal state. Its unintended effect has been to turn federal citizenship into an extension of ethnically-defined membership of Native Authorities, and thereby undermine it. This they did by borrowing from the United States the principle of affirmative action; though they didn’t implement every thing to the end. By selectively choosing when, where and how to implement the federal character policy, they condemned a policy that could have worked to failure; stillborn even before it could crawl out from the legislature! We borrowed the federal system from United States but we don’t equally adopt all the cardinal federal principles enunciated by Sir Kenneth Wheares, considering the heterogeneity in our culture & tradition, religion & believe system, language, ethnicity etc.

       The genesis of this problem was in Ibadan conference 1950, where the northern politicians demanded for 50% representation in the federal house of assembly and the British were unmeritorious to grant their request. The outcome today is that we have a federal system where only what one section wants to become law will be law. Therefore, other tribes should go to hell.

But what our policy makers failed to remember was the fact that Nigeria has it own peculiarities and historical experiences different from the US and thus (while it can borrow from the US and other nations) should not simply ape US practices. The federal character principle was borne out of our own unique national experiences and realities. It was not conceived to compromise merit and quality, but rather to minimize ethnic xenophobia and maximize inclusiveness. Unfortunately, it has since been corrupted and bastardized into a system that often elevates mediocrity over merit.

2.2 BACKGROUND TO FEDERAL CHARACTER POLICY IN NIGERIA

    Even prior to the independence of the Nigerian nation, there was tension in the variegated patchwork. Each tribe was suspicious of the other, and wanted to be privy to resource control. Every Nigerian tribe is guilty of nepotism. The assumption that removing federal character will somehow remove some of the tribal clashes in our society misses the point. Nigeria problem may even be attributed to the poor implementation of federal character. If we have competent people from all over the country running the affairs of the state with equal representation as a civil servant I think we will be better off than having different section of the economy been handle by people from the same area. If we make it competitive and transparent the society will benefit enormously. A Hausa woman may not have the oratory of a Yoruba man, the Yoruba man may not have the Mathematical acumen of an Igbo woman, an Igbo man may not have the engineering competency of Tiv man. However, when you train them and put them to solve a task they will come out with a better solution than putting just one section together to solve the problem. It is call diversity. Federal character is a good way to ensure diversity. To cook a meal in Nigeria today there is element of federal character in your soup. The Igbo man sell you the gas cooker at Alaba market, Yoruba woman sell you the pepper, Edo woman sell you the cooking oil, the cow and pepper was brought to Lagos by Fulani man, the cooking gas came from Niger delta. The problem with this scenario is that one section can hold the reported recently in Lagos. The Northerner bringing goods to South west claimed they are been over taxed. They decide to go on strike. If there is equal representation in the trade from north to south the issue probably will have been resolved without resorting to strike. The country have also seen many coup perpetuated by Northerners. The banking scandal going on can be said to be more prevalent among the southerners. It is who you know that get you to places not what you know. Federal character if properly enforce will make sure that the resources of the nation is not been control by just a section of the Nigeria society. In America there is something similar to federal character it is called affirmative action.

2.3 AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AND FEDERAL CHARACTER POLICY; A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

     Nigeria and America have so much in common! The more I observe and examine the American society and life around here, the more reinforced my belief is in the similarities or commonalties between America and Nigeria! Both Nigeria and America have wide expansive Ocean shores, America has tropical Florida and California, and deserts like the Mojave in California, deserts in New Mexico, Nevada and Arizona, just as Nigeria has deserts in Borno state, Sokoto state etc. and then our near temperate region climate in Plateau state and Savannah grasslands in Niger state like Texas’ Amarillo!

    In America affirmative action is not the same as federal character. It was initially initiated to help the African minority population then extended to other minorities like women and the Latinos. However in Nigeria federal character has not in any way benefited in any sense, it is skewed and unjust, if you remember the problems it generates when a particular candidate cannot gain admission into the so called unity schools while others who came from some parts of the country that had in comparison lower marks is admitted. Federal character attributed to the dominance of a particular region in the echelon of the federal court system. Affirmative Action is an attempt to boost opportunities in public endeavours, especially education for African American who has been historically deprived of every opportunity.

      Likewise, the Constitutions of Nigeria, (from 1979 to 1999) for decades now, have made provisions for a Quota System and the reflection of a Federal Character in appointment of public office holders, this in my view makes perfect sense, in a diverse country and society as Nigeria, Diversity needs to be actively and purposefully encouraged and legally enforced as provided by Nigeria's Supreme law, the Constitution of Nigeria. Affirmative Action Programs Policies and the Quota System and Federal Character Policies reflect visionary thinking, a wonderful foresight, that should have the force of law, that we should all support and encourage and see that these policies continues to be implemented.

                                     CHAPTER THREE   

  3.1 FEDERAL CHARACTER POLICY; 1999 CONSTITIUTION’S DEFINITION

     The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 in Section 14, Sub-Sections 3 and 4 provides for fair representation of all the constituent parts that make up Nigeria. This is what we call the Federal Character Principle. It is observed not only in the recruitment into the Federal Civil Service, but in the distribution of amenities by the Federal Government across the whole country. It states clearly that:-

(3) The composition of 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 State or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies.

(4) The composition of the Government of a State, a local government council, or any of the agencies of such Government or council, and the conduct of the affairs of the Government or council or such agencies shall be carried out in such manner as to recognize the diversity of the people within its area of authority and the need to promote a sense of belonging and loyalty among all the people of the Federation.

      Even within a state, there is an effort to ensure local government representation. The merit system of recruitment connotes that the best candidates from each zone, state or local government is employed from among the qualified candidates rather than recruiting candidates on the basis of favouritism or other considerations. Promotion is based on merit, which may be determined by passing prescribed civil service examination and obtaining the prescribed minimum score in examinations conducted by the relevant Staff Committees or the Federal Civil Service Commission.

   The emphasis on merit is to recruit the best and reward performance. A Commissioner in the Federal Civil Service Commission is always present as an observer in promotion interviews held by Ministries to ensure compliance with these guidelines. The composition of Staff Committees also reflects federal character as much as possible to ensure adherence to merit in the system of recruitment and promotion. Qualifications for vacant positions are usually well publicized in national newspapers and applicants are shortlisted based on the Federal Character Principle. This is however seldom the case.

3.2 PROBLEMS CREATED BY FEDERAL CHARACTER POLICY

        By dividing Nigerian citizens into ‘indigenes' and ‘non-indigenes' - not of Nigeria but of individual states - for purposes of participation in national institutions, it has disenfranchised a growing number of Nigerian citizens, those who do not live in the states where they and their fathers were born. Federal character is hurting the Nigerian dream and even now contributing to the decay of the society since merit is not the criteria that are used to judge a Nigerian’s actions. It is tribe, religion and social class that determines what an individual gets. These create a number of problems to technological development. Some of these problems include the following:-

1. Disenchantment with the system: - When a person is denied a job, that he is fitly qualified for in the guise or alter of federal character, he wouldn’t be happy with the system. This ultimately leads to brain drain- a situation where these qualified professionals leave the nation in the droves to other countries. When manpower is depleted in such manners, their wont be any technological development.

2. There is no alienation of federal character principle from good governance and peace. When it isn’t well implemented and some tribes feel under represented, any leader who comes from such a tribe will carry out policies that would enrich his tribe alone, because he is ethnocentric. When sections of society feel marginalized and under represented, they tend to be caught up with anti-social behaviors and vandalization. The Niger Delta situation is a life example of what poorly implemented Federal Character policy can cause. When infrastructure already existing is vandalized, there can’t be technological development.

3.  When the best people to do a job are not allowed to do a job is not allowed to do it, lower qualities of products are delivered. At other times, rather than grant contracts to qualified personnel, the contracts are handed over to foreigners, so that a tribe won’t be a beneficiary. But, technological development doesn’t come that way. Development comes by implementing what others have done. Let us consider the case of India. India gained independence from the British highly underdeveloped and backward technologically. To develop her technological sector, India implemented her development plans irrespective of ethnic origin or religion, even though she equally is a very multi religious and ethnic country. First, they sent students to study in various disciplines abroad. Next they built several industries where these professionals were employed. For instance, India planned to build three steel rolling mills. In building the first mill, they brought in 75% of the workforce from abroad to supplement 25% of the workforce from among her local labour force. To build the second, 25% expatriates supplemented 75% local labour force. Finally, the third steel rolling mill was built completely by Indians. By neglecting issues about one’s ethnicity, religion, and/or beliefs, India was able to transform herself to a world power as long as technology is concerned. That is the only way through which technology is transformed. But because of Federal Character policy, most innovations in the country are carried out by foreigners. That is the only reason why a Nigerian Satellite would be built and launched by Chinese Engineers. What was the outcome? Even the maintenance of the satellite couldn’t be done by our technocrats with the attendant consequence that the satellite was lost till date, because they were not familiar with the satellite. They were never part of building or launching the satellite!

4.  Neglect of Agricultural Sector: - Prior to the oil boom in the 70’s, the Agricultural sector was the nation’s topmost foreign exchange earner. Most of these agricultural productions were done in the South and kept the Southerners wealthy. Ethnicity ensured that the government of the day neglected the Agricultural sector, making policies that bettered only a section of the country. For instance, the importation of stockfish was banned so that the sale of beef would be maximized, but no commensurate policy was put in place to protect our cottage industries that depended on these agricultural raw materials. This led to the decline of the agricultural sector. With that decline, almost all our food needs were imported. When a nation cannot feed her citizens, they can’t even begin to talk about technological development. This is because the agrarian revolution preceded the industrial revolution. Equally, a comparism of the nations of the world shows that the technological advancement of the nations varies directly with that nation’s ability to feed her citizens with the produce of her land. That is why you can’t compare Germany in terms of technological development with Nigeria. In Germany, 10% of the total workforce involved in the agricultural sector feeds the rest of the country whereas over 70% of the total workforce of Nigerians in the same agricultural sector still can’t feed the rest of the nation. Thus Federal Character Policy introduced a situation where we talk about the rest of us and the best of them!

        

              

                                        

                                       Chapter Four

4.1 THE WAY FORWARD

    Despite the fact that so many ills have been attributed to the Federal Character Policy, It shouldn’t be totally scraped. There is nothing wrong with the spirit of the Federal character, what is wrong is the non implementation or partial implementation of the policy. We should not abolish the federal character policy, but rather the silly bean-counting that it has grown to become in giving effect to the principle. For starters, the requirement of at least one Minister from each state in the federal cabinet not only bequeaths us with a large unwieldy cabinet, but effectively reduces the Ministers to "ambassadors" of their individual states to the federal executive, rather than servants of the entire Nigerian people. If we must move forward as a nation, then merit must be our watchword. Is there any gain in a football team made up of all the ethnic groups or that thoroughly reflects the federal character, but can’t win a single football team? None whatsoever!

     Our country Nigeria isn’t the only country that is multi faceted linguistically. If other nations such as the United States can forge ahead irrespective of their demography, then we can. The success of Tanzania as a nation that is getting it right on the continent is because the nation's erstwhile leader, Julius Nyerere, during his tenure dismantled the customary law, thereby making every one a Tanzanian citizen. Nobody or nation is a reserve of success; success is bound to and tied to principles. When the right principles are applied, they always, I repeat, always yield the right or expected outcome, irrespective of how old a nation is, the languages they speak, or even the kind of land they have.

The architects of the federal character and sundry negative programs of past leaders are still alive and can be made accountable for their creations. Abolition of these retrogressive programs is long overdue. To avoid the outpour of sectional sentiments, the concerned should make haste to make amend by making public statements, apologizing to the nation for failing us. 

        We should adopt a state of resident approach as against the state of origin approach we apply as at now.The fact of the matter is Nigeria should come before all our previous cultures. A careful in-depth search would show that quite a number of people barely know where they originated from they know where they grow up. The current law should be abrogated. In its place, we should establish a seven year residency period verifiable by tax documentation and then folks can become citizens of that state. We have to let our myopic opinions about our ancestral cultures go, if we must move forward as a nation.

Conclusion

   The progenitors of the federal character may have had good ideals when they thought it up ab initio, but right now, it has become, like the legendary sword of Damocles, an ideal that has turned on its wielders. With what we see at present for the citizenry to exclaim, they brought us desolation and called it peace!

  Partial implementation of this policy amounts to injustice. St. Augustine said, “An unjust law is no law at all”. So it is the duty, nay the right of every Nigerian to resist this policy, till it is abolished, reviewed or completely implemented to the letter. Only then would our technological sector leap to the heights like an oxy-acetylene flame!

                                        REFRENCE

1. Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, 6^th Edition

2. The Encyclopedia Americana, (Danbury; Grolier incorporated, 1997) vol. 8

3. Michael Izukanne, Nigeria’s Quest for Democracy (Nsukka: Afro-Orbis Publishing Co. Ltd., 2003)

4. C. N. Bittle, Man and Morals, Miliwukee: Bruce Publishing Co., 1950

5. F. Faluyi, The development of Agricultural Exports and Official Intervention in Produce marketing.

6. J. Goddy, Technology, Tradition and state of Africa, London, 1971

7. Omolewa, M, Certificate History of Nigeria, Nigeria: Longman Group Ltd. (1986)

8. Gatherol, P., Politics of the past; London: Unwin-Hynam Ltd (1990)