We find it appalling and greatly disturbing to note that between 1976, when Decree No.6 was first issued to make Abuja a Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and till date (2017), all the 15 appointed Ministers (not Ministers of State) of the FCT are from the Northern extraction of Nigeria. One is therefore forced to ask, what then is the essence of having a supposed Federal Character principle if right from the inception of the Federal Capital relocation from Lagos to Abuja, all the past and present Ministers of the FCT have always been persons from the Northern parts of Nigeria? Should we call this a practice meant to foster or discourage ‘national unity’?
Where then is the Federal Character principle in the appointments of Ministers of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja?
If the above prevailing unjust, unfair, abnormal and ‘disuniting Federal practice’ should be accepted as the norm, or had been the evident practice by past and present Federal Governments; then that means we would be in our own ‘justifiable Rights’ to say that the positions of the Group Managing Directors (GMDs)/Group Executive Directors (GEDs) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), and the Minister(s) of Petroleum Resources, as well as those in every sector of the oil and gas industry which includes DPR, NPDC, NGC, NAPIMS, PPMC, NIPEX, NNPC Retails, Oil Companies etc., should all (both past and present), have been headed by persons from the Niger Delta region.
We believe this would be the only fair thing that ought to have been done to ‘balance’ the above observed lopsided Federal appointments of the Ministers of the FCT.
Let us be honest with ourselves. If the oil and gas industry can be headed by any Nigeria (including those from the North), irrespective of where he/she comes from, then why have we had only Northerners being appointed as Ministers of the FCT right from its creation till date? Why has the appointment of persons as Ministers of the FCT, not been made open to other ethnic groups of the country?
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, is the ‘Seat Of Power’ of the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and as such, the FCT was not set-up for only a particular region of the country. Unlike some government agencies and departments that were created to accelerate the development of some regions. The status of Abuja represents every State of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
If we are talking about entrenching ‘unity in diversity’ – using the Federal Character principle as ‘Constitutional tool’, then such unity should be seen to be ‘all-embracing’ in Federal Appointments and not ‘selective’ or based on nepotism/favouratism of a particular ethnic group over and above others. Let us not pretend about this issue but be frank and sincere with each other if we really want to build a solid and united country.
Zik Gbemre, JP, write from Warri, Delta State.
We Mobilize Others to Fight for Individual Causes as if Those Were Our Causes.
