Employment: MDAs must adhere to federal character principles – Reps

A former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and chairman, House Committee on Federal Character, Ahmed Idris Wase, has reiterated that the House will ensure strict adherence to federal character principles in ministries, departments and agencies of the federal government.

He made the assertion at the inaugural meeting of the committee in Abuja.

Wase said the composition of government agencies, especially in their recruitments, must reflect federal character to promote national unity.

“We will only do justice and continue to do the right thing. I want to say that we should take this as priority. First, colleagues, I want to refer you to section 14(3) of the constitution, which states that 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 command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from few states or from few ethnic or other sectional groups in that government or in any of its agencies,” he said.

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He said the committee would be diligent in its oversight to ensure that there is equitable distribution of employment across the country as it is better equipped with adequate legislative backing to dispense its core mandate.

“This is the thrust of our committee. Our function does not just end at the national level; this is where we have to start our work immediately.

“We want to believe maximally that by next Tuesday we should have another meeting with the Federal Character Commission.

“We have offices virtually in all the states of Nigeria, and they are supposed to be monitoring this particular section I quoted. But unfortunately, not much has been done, and that provision is in section 14(4),” he said.