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TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY 1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 1.5 HYPOTHESIS 1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 1.7 SCOPE/LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY 1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS CHAPTER TWO 2.0 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURES 2.1 FEDERAL CHARACTER 2.2 APPLICATION OF FEDERAL CHARACTER IN CIVIL SERVICE: ISSUES AND CHALLENGES 2.2.1 Ethnocentrism 2.2.2 Elitism 2.2.3 Mediocrity 2.2.4 Mutual Suspicion 2.3 The Nexus between Federal Character Principle and Performance 2.4 Nigerian Federal Civil Service: Ecology of Recruitment CHAPTER THREE 3.0 METHODOLOGY 3.1 BRIEF OUTLINE OF THE STUDY 3.2 DESIGN OF THE STUDY 3.3 AREA OF THE STUDY 3.4 POPULATION OF THE STUDY 3.5 SAMPLE OF THE STUDY 3.6 INSTRUMENT FOR DATA COLLECTION 3.7 VALIDATION OF INSTRUMENT 3.8 DISTRIBUTION AND RETRIEVAL OF THE INSTRUMENT 3.9 DATA ANALYSIS TECHNIQUE CHAPTER FOUR 4.0 DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS 4.1 DATA PRESENTATION 4.2 TEST OF HYPOTHESIS CHAPTER FIVE 5.0 SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 SUMMARY 5.2 CONCLUSION 5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS BIBLIOGRAPHY ABSTRACT The study examined the federal character and performance of National Planning Commission in Nigeria. Over the years, service delivery and infrastructural development have remained a hydra headed problem, not only in National Planning Commission, but in the entire federal civil service. The study relied heavily on primary and secondary data to select the sample population. Findings of the study show that federal character has improved performance to some extent, however, more needs to be done as regard some lopsided appointments. This is because the strength and usefulness of the Federal Character is first, to construct an efficient / effective, dynamic and modern state and second, to celebrate or enjoy diversity. This Federal Character Principle needs to be seen not merely as a formal set of institutions and processes, but could also be viewed as a strategy for political management. The implication therefore, is that, there is no ideal federal model for nations to adopt and emulate. Thus, the federal arrangement that a given nation or any political system adopts must be tailored or designed to suit its own distinct social economic, cultural and political realities, and not necessarily fit an ideal federal design. CHAPTER ONE 1.0 INTRODUCTION A country is distinguished not only by its geographical location but of certain peculiarities which may either be natural or have evolved over a period of time. Nigeria’s peculiarities include; ethnic diversity, religious and cultural differences particularly the feeling of superiority by an ethnic group over the other. It is remarkably relevant to note that ethno-cultural and religious superiority have contributed significantly to most of the problems in the country (Kukah,2003). Over the years, several regimes have designed and constitutionalized some principles, provisions, policies and programmes aimed at promoting peaceful co-existence among the diverse ethnic nationalities. Specifically and currently too, section 14, subsection 3 of the 1999 constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN) states that:The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of itsaffairs shall be carried out in such a manner 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 states or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that government or in any of its agencies. It is widely believed by advocates of the principle that federal character would deeply promote nation building, national integration both of which are sized as the panacea for peaceful co-existence and manage diversities and divisive tendencies through combination of policy alternatives (Bodunrin, 1989; Ayoade, 2000; Abdullah, 2007). Often times, these policy alternatives turn out to be delicate arrangements; but when carefully conceived, crafted and practiced, it provides opportunity for centre-seeking and centre-fleeing forces to interact peacefully and co-habit on agreed terms which has been proved to have enhanced productivity. One of such policy alternatives adopted for the management of the public service in Nigeria for even representation is the federal character principle, which was borne out of the need to ensure even spread of government appointments in all the regions, states and local government councils in the country (Nzeshi, 2012). 1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY Nigeria with a population of more than 170 million people and has more than 250 ethnic groups which necessitate an arrangement that could accommodate people from the different segments of the country in the public service (Gberevbie, 2012).One major existence of a federal society is federal character. However, as a federal state, Nigeria was faced with the challenge of how to imbibe the principle of federalism in practice. This brought about the introduction of quota systemby the government into the Nigerian public service so as to bring about equitable representation of the various ethnic groups in the Nigeria (Tonwe and Oghator, 2009). To further consolidate on the gains of the quota system, the Federal Military Government of Generals Murtala Mohammed and Olusegun Obasanjo in the drafting and approval of the 1979 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria during the transition to civilian rule (1976-79) introduced into the Nigerian political and administrative landscapes the principle of federal character (Ekeh, 1989). Federal character principle sought to give opportunities in education and employment, usually at the point of entry, to disadvantaged groups and areas to enable them compete and catch up with more advanced areas and sectors of the nation (Ekeh, 1989). Ekeh (1989) while comparingfederal character principle and the practice of quota system, posits that the former demands far more than the latter in the sense that it switches emphasis from opportunities to privileges and benefits. He further argues that federal character principle is a vital legal weapon put in place to regulate appointments, promotions, security of tenure and severance in every government department.The reference to the phrase disadvantaged groups in the area of educational opportunities means that special consideration should be given to candidates from the Northern provinces and other areas where educational facilities were more backward than elsewhere (Gboyega, 1989). However,the vast application of the federal character principle tends to adversely pose a problem to the performance of the Nigerian public service, as the personnel procurement with disregard to merit questionable which can dampen the societal sustainable development. In contemporary political systems, the strength and usefulness of the Federal Character Principle can be analysed and explained in terms of its capacity to meet two very crucial and vital variables and/or demands, first the need to construct an efficient / effective, dynamic and modern state and second, the desire to celebrate or enjoy diversity. This Federal Character Principle needs to be seen not merely as a formal set of institutions and processes, but could also be viewed as a strategy for political management. The implication therefore, is that, there is no ideal federal model for nations to adopt and emulate. Thus, the federal arrangement that a given nation or any political system adopts must be tailored or designed to suit its own distinct social economic, cultural and political realities, and not necessarily fit an ideal federal design. It is in this context that this research focus on Federal Character and the performance of National planning commission, which is an arm of the Federal Civil Service.The National planning commission as a body carries out the business of government and plays a pivotal role, such that it has a mandate to determine and advise the government of the federation on matters relating to national development and overall management of the economy; hence the need to employ well-educated, skilled and experienced people into the commission.But for political reasons, the Federal Civil Service now combines the administrative ethics of merit and political doctrine of federal character as a personnel procurement policy because of the need for a representative bureaucracy. Having taken into cognizance the impervious demand by each ethnic group, regardless of their numerically strength, regardless of material in their possession, or the backwardness of their educational status for dignified place in the Nigeria sum, the federal character principle was incorporated as an employment policy. TheNational Planning Commission (NPC)has come under criticism in the recent pastdue to her performance and productivity which left much to be desired. This has been widely attributed to the adoption of Federal Character Principle which many believe negates the basic criteria for efficiency experience through rigorous training and administrative ethics of merit system. However, this study seek to examine the relationship between federal characterand performance of National Planning Commission. 1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM A fundamental and striking feature of Nigeria politics is the intense elites struggle for power among the different ethnic groups and geopolitical zones in the country. These struggles have been between the elites from the North and other Southern counterpart.This lingering problem of imbalance in national life which is perennial in nature had revolved round major sectors of the Nigeria economy. However, the immediate problem which prompted the research to investigate on these issues relating to educational allocation which is meant to be based on positions among the federating units relates to federal character principle, thereby enabling all the geo-political zones to be given equal chance for the appointment and output-efficiency as it relates to observation of federal character principle. Furthermore, there have been discriminatory attitudes on many federal institutions in terms of employment into the National Planning Commission as there are a specific numbers of candidates to be taken from each state. Already, there is mediocrity in the federal civil service, as there exist problem of quota system in the area of employment into civil service. Repeatedly, gross misconduct has been the order of the day in the area of employment. This however is largely due to sectional consciences and nepotism from those in authority in the Ministries and Parastatals. Federal institutions seem to recruit on nepotism and favoritism without minding the effect of such practices to the performance, productivity, efficiency of service delivery and quality of output to the nation. Even when the federal character principle is observed, the institutions do not consider due process and efficiency of the candidate towards work, which consistently result in cutting corners in the recruitment process that could have brought about intense performance and productivity for the country as a whole. It is against this backdrop that this study examines the Federal Character and the performance of National Planning Commission. 1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The following are the objectives of this study:
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1.5 HYPOTHESIS HO: Federal character have not improved performance of National Planning Commission H1: Federal character have improved the performance of National Planning Commission 1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY The study of federal character and performance of National Planning Commission is of immense benefit to different institutions, especially those institutions that needed employment related data for their routine activities. From such research, Federal Civil Service Commission can tell if the character principle is observed in every batch of recruitments conducted by different Federal Agencies and whether such recruitment is orderly conducted through the help of Federal Commission.Again, by observing the character principle, the federal Bureau of Statistics can collate and manage data on employment-unemployment situation and through that ascertain the living conditions of different age brackets in liaison with National Population Commission that would give out the population of such age brackets. It will also be beneficial in accessing the performance of federal institutions for quality service delivery. 1.7 SCOPE/LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY The scope on the study on Federal Character and performance of National Planning Commission will cover all the issues of employment in the federal civil service analyzing the methods of selection (i.e. the merit system of the federal character/quota system) considering the effects of both of them on performance in the federal character and performance of National Planning Commission. The efforts put into this research is limited by time finance, transport and inadequate information and materials. 1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS Civil Service: Refers to the organization, personnel, practices and procedures essential to effective performance of the civilian functions entrusted to the executive branch of government comprising those public servants appointed on merit on a permanent, contract or temporary basis without any inferences of political considerations for the purpose of executing public policy. Thus, the civil service whenever referred to in this work means federal government employee, organization practices and procedures directly involved in public administration. Federal Character: The system of distributing positions/resources to reflect the ethnic, regional or sectional differences in Nigeria, irrespective of whether the person concerned is the most qualified or not. Representation/Representative: A condition which exists when the characteristics and acts of one vested with public functions are accordance with the desires of one or more persons to whom the functions have objective and subjective importance. It therefore carries with it authority and legitimacy as such person performs has duty on behalf of others. Quota: A quota is inflexible number that be reached within a given period of time, regardless of the methods used or the availability of candidates. Here, there is the possibility or every tendency that whoever presents himself will be accepted to fill the gap: thus, the acceptable standard might be lowered to achieve this aim. That seems to be the fate of the federal character principle as it is now being applied especially in the federal civil service, considering the grave imbalance between the regions or ethnic groups in Nigeria. National Ideology: A set of concepts, doctrine, beliefs to which the members of a society are committed and which identified the national character of the country; ideology therefore functions to influence and justify certain kinds of behaviours and claims.
Keywords: FEDERAL CHARACTER AND PERFORMANCE OF NATIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION IN NIGERIA
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Keywords: FEDERAL CHARACTER AND PERFORMANCE OF NATIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION IN NIGERIA
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