How North sidelines S/West in civil service * No South Westerner in top ten of federal protocol





Notwithstanding the constitutional inviolability of the Federal Character Principle, which provides that no section of the country will be perpetuated in office above the other in a determined effort at ensuring equity, balance and fairness in the sharing of the nation's resources, investigations have shown that the South-West geopolitical zone has consistently been shortchanged in the application of Federal character over the years.



Incidentally, the fault is not traceable to lack of competent hands by the zone; rather, investigations revealed that the zone has always presented its best and the best hands for the job at hand.


Sources confirmed that a cabal in the Federal Civil Service, working hand in hand with some influential forces in the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) and the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC) has combined to consistently execute an agenda against candidates of the South-West.


Three instances stand out

Of the myriads of infraction against candidates of the South-West, three major appointments in recent history stand out. The appointment of the Auditor-General of the Federation (AGF) in 2009, the appointment of the Clerk of the National Assembly (CNA) in 2010 and the appointment of the new Head of Service of the Federation to replace Professor Oladapo Afolabi, who retired on September 29, are the classic instances of direct marginalisation of the South-West in the Federal Civil Service.


Somehow, the instances of marginalis- ation were orchestrated by forces believed to be working for the interest of the North.


Only last week, President Goodluck Jonathan appointed the replacement for Professor Afolabi from the North-East zone, contrary to widespread indication that the president was set to appoint a candidate from the South-West, in line with the desired balancing act in the federation as designed by the constitution.


Taking the Head of Service post to the North-East, the Federal Government has, thus, completed the routing of the South-West from the top 10 of the federal protocol, the zone having earlier lost the number four slot allotted to it by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) through some insider connivance traceable to the politics of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), which won majority of the House of Representatives seats from the zone.


In 2009, activities were flagged off when it was discovered that the two most senior directors in the office of Auditor-General of the Federation, Mr. Gabriel Ogunsina and Mr. Timothy Osonuga are from the South-West. By the rule guiding the service from independence, the two were supposed to take office one after the other.


But the unseen hands that wanted to the two South-West candidates invented a policy which indicates that the Auditor-General position could be advertised and the age classification contained in the advert deliberately sidelined the two, apparently to sideline them.


The administration of President Umaru Yar'Adua, which adopted the policy, in November 2009, forwarded the name of the then Auditor-General of Benue State, Samuel Ukura, to the Senate for confirmation, thus, striking out the two most senior directors in the office who had risen to positions of second and third in command to the Auditor-General at the time.


Read on. . . .http://odili.net/news/source/2011/oct/2/622.html

The title should read: Nigeria has now realised the need to sideline the SW to move the country forward.