Abolish Quota System and Federal Character

There are many domestic policies that contribute to Nigeria’s underdevelopment.  Every society is dynamic. Nothing stays the same. Policies are made to address public issues. But there is no public policy that remains permanent.

Policies are created to deal with certain public issues. Over time, every policy needs to be reviewed, adjusted or even discarded after it has fulfilled its purpose.

There are two policies that were created to address certain public issues in the country. These two policies have been implemented for about forty years now. It’s time to throw them into the garbage bin. They have been crossly abused and contributed to the overall underdevelopment of the country, contrary to what it was meant to serve and address.

We are talking about the policies on Federal Character and Quota System. These two policies were put into effect about forty years ago to fundamentally help give Northern Nigeria an opportunity to catch up in education and human capacity development. Along the way, both the North and South began to participate and benefit from the implementation processes.

Unfortunately, instead of serving its purposes, these policies have been used to short-change many Nigerians, particularly, those from Southern Nigeria. The South has suffered unduly from the continued implementation of the these two policies. It’s time to abolish them including the government agencies and institutions responsible for implementing them. Away with them! They have outlived their usefulness. They have neither helped the North to catch up nor has  it helped the South to advance. Nigeria has become rather under-developed because of the implementation of quota system and Federal Character, in all ramifications. No baby remains a baby or uses feeding bottle forever.

Nigeria has fed some people for too long through with feeding bottle through Quota System and Federal Character principle. Nigeria has grown. It’s time for both North and South to take responsibility.  It’s time to institutionalize merit in all national matters, whether admissions into Federal Educational Institutions, employment or appointment into public offices.

Whoever cannot compete should go home and prepare to participate in national development. The North has enjoyed beyond measure from the quota system and Federal Character principle.

In fact, the segment of the North that has enjoyed from these policies mainly are a tiny elite group who took advantage of the policies to empower themselves only, to the exclusion even of other people from Northern Nigeria. The nation cannot continue to operate the Federal Character principle and Quota System and expect Nigeria to develop as it should. Enough of massaging the ego of those who believe standards of everything must be lowered to accommodate them while others must suffer to access what they are qualified to have, or even be denied of them.

Nigeria must move forward in the direction of merit and competition. Enough time has been given to every region develop their human capital in order to compete at the national level. Those that refused to build the capacity of their people must answer for it and cannot make the rest of the country to continue to swallow in underdevelopment. Those that refused to take advantage of the opportunity of Federal Character principle and Quota System to build the capacity of their people to compete, must bear the brunt. Instead of doing the needful, they fell into the entitlement mentality. Enough! The day is dawn. Nothing lasts forever. It’s time to abolish these policies.

Nobody eats their cake and still has it in their drawers. Those that eat their own cake need to be reminded that the cake is now exhausted. Time has run out. The Federal Government of Nigeria under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR must take bold and decisive steps to abolish the Federal Character Commission and the implementation of Quota System in Nigeria’s public space. The National Assembly must rise to this occasion.

Enough of playing around and waiting for development to happen to us. Government must take decisions and implement new policies to deal with current issues. The time to do this is now.

Future World Magazine

Editorial Opinion

Monday January 6, 2025