Prof. Oba AbdulRaheem is the Executive Chairman of the Federal Character Commission (FCC). In this interview with TONY AMOKEODO, he x-rays the mandate of the commission and declares that no MDAs will recruit without input from the commission just as he insists that any MDA that breaches the principle of federal character will be prosecuted by the commission
Some analysts have claimed that most of the MDAs are now violating the relevant Section 14(3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) on Federal Character Act which stipulates that every organization must reflect federal character and that no tribe should dominate any MDA. Are you not worried that people are just behaving as if this does not exist?
I think there is need to clear the ground a bit. When you say most MDAs are not observing the federal character law, I take exception to that. Because it is not completely true. The reason we are having this outcry now is that people have become more aware of the existence of the federal character principle in the Federal Character Commission, which has not been the case in the past.
Much worst things have happened in the previous years when people did not internalize the idea of the existence of the federal character principle or even of the FCC. I will as chairman tell you from my own understanding that contrary to that view, most organizations are now not only aware of the federal character principle, the role of the FCC but also many more have complied now than they have done in the past 5, 10 years.
How many MDAs have violated this FCC principle, because we know that not all of them have complied with the FCC?
The issue of the implementation of the federal character principle by the FCC is not statistical; it is a dynamic process. There are certain organisations that either out of mischief or deliberate misunderstanding pretends as if the FCC does not exist.
We have tolerated a good number of them. Many have come to us and we are working with them. In the past, organisations we think were not cooperating will be NNPC, CBN, DMO, FAAN, NIMASA.
These are big names, but I tell you, except DMO all the others have shown a willingness to come along in the observance of the federal character principles. We had to go to court with three of them in the last three months. The three that had problem with us were DPR, DMO and Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN). Now, of these three, the DPR tangle with us was the least complex because the DPR had complied with our guidelines up to a certain points. Up to the time we gave them a certificate of compliance. But that was way back in 2011.
But the requirement is that when you get the letter of compliance, you must go back and issue letters of employment to all those people. DPR had gone into some internal problems and could not issue letters to those persons. So because of our persistence and the apparent unresponsiveness of the organisation, we had to test the water by taking them to court. When they now knew we went to court, the minister and the management put their heads together and came back to approach us.
They have resolved their internal problems. They have now agreed to release the letters of employment of all those persons and as I tell you now, more than 60 per cent of such persons have received their letters and are being absorbed. The process is now how to take the resolution of the matter out of court because what do you want to gain by humiliating anybody in court provided they show a willingness to obey the laws of the land.
But the FAAN, incidentally that is an organisation which we have taken to court twice in the last 5 years. But each time they come, we are given excuses of change in leadership which has created problem of management and the rest of them. And so a new leaders comes and say, ‘I am innocent of all of these, you can see from your records that all of these offence were committed a long time ago, am just coming so am pledging my fullest support’.
The MD of FAAN has been here with all his team and they said what happened were mere error, a mistake of understanding and that they were prepared to correct it. So we gave them a template of how to correct. And once they can correct in their next recruitment, we have no business insisting. But if anybody deliberately wants to test the clout of the FCC in its prosecutor duties, we are prepared to go the whole log and enforce our mandate. For now we have investigated other organisations, which if we are convince we may go to court.
What is the maximum penalty for those who flout the provisions of Federal Character Act ?
Apparently this is the reason why people think they want to test the water. The law for now prescribes a maximum N50, 000 for a chief executive who have been found guilty. But there is an option of six months in prison. But we are trying to rebuild the law and amend it to make the penalty at least more stringent so as to discourage people who may be predisposed to breaking the law. But that is ongoing.
What am saying is not as if the punishment is the target. The target is to persuade Nigerians to internalise the idea that when you practice federal character principle which is based on equity and fairness in the distribution of appointive position you are likely to contribute more to growing and encouraging the unity of Nigeria.
Are you not surprised about the prevalent infamous practice of bribe for jobs?
The media has been awash by the allegations of bribe-for-jobs especially since the tangle between the ex-CG of Immigration and the Minister of Interior. I think we must remove the chaff from the grains in this matter ab initio if we must get goods result. We must isolate organisations where this practice become more prevalent. You find that these are organisations that are large recruiters of labour but don’t require any specific expertise.
For instance, you can go to Immigration or Civil Defence with any degree in any discipline. Anyone who has been able to attend a Nigerian university or a recognised institution in Nigeria qualifies and is entitled to be employed. So anyone who goes to apply thinks ‘am fit’.
That is why they have hundreds of thousands of people applying for very few jobs. And it is when you have this crowd of people that malpractice becomes tempting. The onus of preventing and stopping this lie squarely on the shoulder of the chief executive of these organisations. Because that go to smear their own image and the reputation of the organisations they represent.
But if you move outside that, you find out that other institutions are not bugged down by these allegations because they have specific kind of qualifications that you cannot even buy with money. For instance, you cannot go to the university and offer N500, 000 to become a lecturer in economics if you have a third class in economics. But where it is all comers that is where you get it. But that is only one part of the problem.
I am in total disagreement with people who think that people who have very high qualifications need to bribe to get jobs. If they need to bribe to get jobs, then they need to be properly scrutinised and screened for honesty. Because ultimately the bright ones will get his way.
As the chairman of the FCC, what is your reaction over the rumoured allegations in the Nigeria Immigration Service to the effect that the top echelon were only recruiting from their states?
The allegation in Immigration, I think the media has not done justice to Nigerians and to itself. To the best of my knowledge, all of those who have reported it have not done sufficient investigative journalism. Let me tell you categorically, yes there is the allegation that government has approved recruitment of 4500 persons, but no one single person has been employed by Immigration. As soon as the ex-CG got approval, she came here of course, she under declared the number that was given to her
Is it not an offence to under declare?
Well that is another offence to another body. It was only when the noise became loud that I got to know that she under declared to us.
So, she came to FCC?
Yes she came here.Ordinarily, we expected her or anybody else to advertise those vacancies. But she came claiming security reasons which she put in writing. There is a letter saying that for security reasons she didn’t want to advertise openly and she gave me all the proof of the security. But the problem is how do you get all Nigerians not disenfranchised by this idea of waiver not to advertise.
Will that not leave the discretion to whoever is recruiting to take his cronies or anybody? So it is now my job as the chairman of the FCC to say alright we agree with your security excuse but come back to the appropriate committee in charge of defence and foreign affairs in the FCC, sit down with them, they will now see your existing nominal role. The distribution of personnel state by state; we will now be able to advise you on how to spread the new number you want to take relative to the existing holdings of each stakeholder.
When you have done that, we will now say to you, since you are not going to advertise, we will now ask each state government, transmit to them the number they are required by Immigration. Let them nominate twice that number for interview and examination by Immigration. So that the state governments properly take part because of the security situation.
So now, no recruitment has been done, she has not even come back with nominal role when this thing blew up because there was some kind of disagreement between her and her supervisory minister. But I think they are not doing Nigeria any good. I think it is important that the media help us
But there are allegations that the Minister of Interior brought in people from his own Benue State?
I just told you that no recruitment has taken place in Immigration. The 4, 500 vacancies is still intact as far as am concerned. If there is any evidence that someone has got a letter in 2012, let it be brought to me, I will take it up. What we have now is a proposal to recruit by Immigration.
That proposal has not been formalised. So, there is no recruitment that has taken place at all. We have must be fair to everybody, no recruitment has taken place. Either that people have not been listening to her or people that are representing her have not been doing a good job.
Before now, are there complaints of lopsidedness of recruitment by some MDAs?
There is always. In fact I have petition against the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) by various people. Even though we tell the FCSC that they have not complied with the guidelines, even within what they have done, there have been complaints saying that persons whose names appear against their states or senatorial district are not ordinarily from that place. Of course there have been printer’s devil in the printing, but there will always be complaints of marginalization. Ours is to work with the recruiting agencies, guide them and ensure that we achieve this desired goal of the constitution.
Can you shed new light on your core mandate?
The main reason is to achieve equitable distribution of bureaucratic and political posts throughout the public service. On the other hand; to achieve equitable distribution of infrastructural facilities and socio-economic amenities throughout the length and breadth of the country. For instance, a government that makes sure there is stable power is not just doing that to galvanise the people behind it to support his strategy.
But it is also to tell people that if there is good power supply and stable one, the man on the plateau and the man on the creeks of Bayelsa, will feel equally treated. That is why equitable distribution of infrastructural facilities is important ingredients of encouraging and promoting national wellbeing, national sense of belonging and ultimately national unity within a heterogeneous society like Nigeria.
You will discover that what the federal character principle was meant to achieve was to cater for this heterogeneous nature of our nation – multi-tribe, multi-religion, multi-ethnic, for no fault of ours. But we have to live together as a people. But the only instrument that can bring us together as a people is that we practice equitable distribution of our resources – human and material.
And when we do that we are likely to overcome a good percentage of our problems of development. So we need to move on to the second mandate even while we are prosecuting the first one. The second mandate of course is a product of law and there is a process for getting it done. But in the last one year, the commission has perfected the instrument for the implementation of the second mandate and I do hope that government will come to our aid so that we can bring into public consciousness our effort in ensuring equity distribution.
Of course we have to work with various government agencies. We cannot do it alone. We do not even have the resources to do it. We must work for instance with NBS, NPC, Budget Office and National Assembly so that when budget are being conceived, we are part of it and we know what is going to where.
Then we can advise government that from our own study, from record available to us, there is a concentration in this kind of infrastructure in this kind of quantity against this one. So if you are going to bring new infrastructure of that type, it must go somewhere else. Once you do that there will be an all-inclusive participation in government from the grassroots to highest level.
What is your take on section 2 of the Federal Character Act which states that married women shall continue to lay claim to their states of origin in terms of federal appointment. Is this law not anti-marriage?
That section of our law is meant not only to protect the woman, but essentially to ensure that the principle of FCC as enshrined in this law is done not to the jeopardy of any single person. On the issue of single career women;a woman by nature will have to marry. A woman is born in state A and marries in state B; we say she must remain a citizen of state A not state B for the purpose of the implementation of the FC principle only in the federal level. That will only allow us to statistically represent adequately the interest of each state in any organisation. If you allow women to change state, it will give you a lopsided view of our analysis. Because you are not talking about one woman.
Imagine a situation when Nigerians comes to a dream world that we expect that every Nigeria can marry from everywhere. And you have the unlikely scenario that a particular state is populated by women who are indigenes of another statewho are high flyers; who when you put them to run for an office.They will come one to 10, you can see the wives will now take over government.
Of course the reign of the kingdom of the wives has not yet come. You do not become a Nigerian just by being born in Nigeria. You must show interest by applying for citisenship. So if a woman is married in a particular community, she has option of becoming registered as an indigene of that place by going with her husband through the registry of the local government and say I belong to this local government. But I tell you, 99 per cent of women will not agree to do that upon marriage. Because nobody believes unfortunately that the marriage will last forever.
Now you cannot because of that create a problem for the nation. I am all for freedom of movement and human right, but we look at it within the context of what this seeks to achieve. Every Nigerian must voluntary choose where they want to belong. There are people who say you should ask me about my state of origin when am looking for something. It is only when I am good. It is politically correct to say so.