For a while now, i find it difficult to put pen to paper,but this is an issue that has struck my heart with
the emergence of the super falcons as African women's champion for the sixth time or thereabout, as most of us know,
the team consists basically of a mono ethnic group, it therfore goes to say, that those who can do the job should be
given the opportunity to do so as Nigerians and not on the basis of Federal Character or zoning. it goes further to prove
that the inefficiency of the super eagles today, is a result of these twin evils.
The Federal Character arrangement is provided for in the constitution of the Federal republic of Nigeria, 1999,
it is provided for in the establishment of some certain government agencies like the army, specifically, section 219.
In my humble opinion, the many problems of our dear country Nigeria is a result of Federal Character and zoning.
in many
Federal Government Agencies, merit has been sacrificed on the alter of federal character principle. equality, which
is the
pillar on which the rule of law is founded, is a good thing, but merit must not be substituted for it. merit equals
productivity.
a good case in poit still remains the performance of the super falcons.
This twin evils are gradually suffocating us as a country, and am sure, this is what the late chief Awolowo saw when he
looked into the crystal ball and said that Nigeria is like a ship which is moving towards a rock in terriffic speed.
in order to forstall this prophesy by the late sage, the National Assembly must look at this issues critically: which has also
crept into the political landscape, and has seen political parties codifying it in thier books.



Written By Osagiede Kelly Ehisuoria (a NAIRALANDER)
NIGERIAN LAW SCHOOL,
BWARI,ABUJA.

well said

My question is, Must Nigeria not disintegrate Of What importance is Nigerian Unity when the whole idea is centred on ethnicity. If the ideologies of the entity called Nigeria differs greatly, then let's gentlemanly separate. I wonder why a racial sect called NPF would insist on producing a Northern President because the South held the presidency for 8years recently? How do they compensate for the whole of 38yrs+ that the North had held sway to governance with EXACTLY nothing to show for it? Have we lost our sense of reasoning? Let it be on paper for future reference that the insensitivity shown by these group will distingrate this country, especially if GoodLuck Jonathan does not clinch the PDP flag for the 2011.

Atiku is less qualified to Jonathan looking at his antecedents. This is a fellow who could not harmoniously work with his boss - No matter how bad he thought OBJ was. OBJ is known to have respectfully and respectably served his Master as a military deputy. The same Atiku jumped to AC owing to his desperation for governance. And same man went to beg OBJ in Ogun. This is apparently not the kind of leadership we want. A Leader who gives little regard to parties and her manifestoes that jumping in and out parties is the order of the day.

This" Northern" project (Ofcourse, it is not even acceptable by All Northerners) MUST & IS FAILING. To remain indivisble, Nigeria needs a presidential with a national face and not tribalistic, We need fresh Air in Nigeria. PERIOD!

Nigerian unity is ordained from above.YOU CAN'T BREAK NIGERIA!!!

^ Who be this one?

@ Poster: Like many others before you, you made sense. But these evils are what we have to live with, as long as Nigeria remains one. I don't need to explain this for you to understand.

People take this zoning thing as a north vs south fight. for me  zoning is made to make every nigerian have a sense of belonging. if nigeria is one big family then, every member must be stakeholders. no section/ tribe/family should be made to be more nigerian or less nigerian than the other regardless of its size. nigerians should all have equal opportunity as competence is not exclusive to any region, state,tribe,sect or family.i am from the south, we play good football, i have been to the north also and i have seen people play good football. so why can't there be a  synergy. the truth is, our ethnicity is so strong so its better we use it to our advantage.

those talking about disintegrating nigeria. what about your home state are they all one there? the answer is no.
for me zoning is very good. when deployed wisely. zoning stops an ethnic group from becoming too powerful. do you know what it means for an ethnic group to become so powerful in a state? its better not imagined .

guys lets re define zoning please. let a ministry, paralstatal, team, church, represent its nigerianess and not its igboness, yorubaness, hausaness ijawness, urohboness, etc  in the united nations they zone things. lets not deceive ourselves. no matter how we look at it we can't run away from true zoning.

zoning does not kill merit if deployed well. for me it makes every body bring out his best man for any thing that needs to be done. if GEJ is the president should all ministry head/ directors come from his state/tribe?no. let the best from each part of the country be represented. that's nigerian! that's the way to go! thats our pride. our unity.

North is bunch of useless peoples. When r we going to have a country without dem. I cant wait for 2015 disintegration. Human beign n animals cant live together.

I wish to commend the Poster for a thoughtful post.
Nevertheless I agree with those who say we cannot run away from the zoning issue. Like most things in Nigeria, it is not the zoning that is the problem but how it is practiced. If merit is allowed to hold sway, then zoning would achieve its aim.
Nigerians must work at keeping united because whatever splits this nation will further split the little pieces that comes from her.
I love this country and I am becoming increasingly positive that things would work for her in the days to come, not because of what I see but because of Who I believe.
God bless Nairaland; God bless Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The problem with zoning and federal character is in the implementation and since we cannot get it right we should look for an alternative.
It is the same like the 6-3-3-4 education system, some countries implemented it successfully why we have not hence our failures.
So let us improve it or do away with it, at best it should be clearly stated in the constitution or maybe we need another aburi accord.

The only alternatives to a Nigeria break up is Resource Control and Drastic decentralisation of Power; else let everyone choose whom they choose to be with.

@ Pharoh

I agree completely with you. Most proponents of zoning in the ruling party are bunch of opportunists. Nigerians will accept zoning if it is well defined and enshrined in the constitution. The present calls for zoning between the North and South is not enough - what is the assurance that one zone in the north or south will marginalise the rest. Rather we should be talking about ZONING BETWEEN THE SIX GEOPOLITICAL ZONES. I believe that each zone is capable of producing a good candidate for presidency. There is nothing like a gentleman's agreement in this matter because such agreement is not binding on all other political parties. The constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria did not stipulate that all political parties must nominate a northerner as their presidential candidate for the next general elections. Until that is done, Nigerians cannot guarantee that the next president that will emerge from 2011 elections must come from the north.

I dont see the two as evil. Federal Character was much prepared by northers due to high domination of public and civil service by southerners, while zoning was initiated by southerners when they discovered that north have been rulling for longer term compared to the south.
let us define the two very well to find a lasting solution.
If we most part, let it be peaceful

Zoning: The desire to have each tribe to use power of governance to steal the NIGER DELTA PETROLEUM RESOURCES. Thats the meaning of zoning.

As far as we allow the quasi illiterates to have access to Presidency, People like Atiku and the rest of them, then our children will come and die without basic amenities like electricity and medicare.

The solution to Nigeria is Confederal System of Government,

Each State, CONTROL YOUR RESOURCES and pay 10% Tax to the Federal Government. Abuja wont be enticing
Each state, takes care of its electricity, Educational institutions and research centers
Each State, Takes care of all the road networks without mentioning FEDERAL ROADS.
Each State has its Police Departments.
Each State, has its Fire service

Federal Government being an auditor
The Federal has a National Police
Federal takes care of national security
Federal Government takes care of economy ans basic blueprints
Federal Monitors the State and prosecutes

The moment each state controls his resources and develops its State. ABUJA wont be enticing

thanks you all, this will make a good topic for debate. The responses tells of intelligence, and shows that we are politically alive. Keep them coming.

Zoning and Federal character are not the problem of this country, greed and selfishness disrespect for institutions and rules are indeed the problem. It is neither the north nor the south that is the problem of the country but individuals from both sides of the divide.

What zoning and federal character set out to achieve is to eliminate domination by any group of people, the example of the super falcons is not enough to expunge the federal character, the federal character comes to play where in a selection of 20 out of 200 you need to have criteria for selection, for instance if we had 2 good female footballers from the north out of 200 and 120 good female footballers from Edo state alone should we select all 25 players from Edo alone? My answer is No the northern girl should be given a chance, its like the world cup we have a lot of better teams in south America and Europe but that did not stop the world body from increasing africas quota in the championship.

Every Nigerian has a stake in Nigeria, and we must all feel accepted and involved in developing our country, we are brothers from different mothers but with the same father or great grand father, we have a lot more that brings us together than what tears us apart.
On the presidency my take has always been that there is no such thing as a northern or southern presidency, we always have a national presidency, we make a mistake ascribing the presidency to the president, the president and the presidency is not complete without a vice president, so in 1999, the presidency was national it had both the northern and southern parts represented.

We all like to look at the president as a big bully who can get all that he wants, sorry in a democracy the words of the president is not law, the president is only as powerful as the weakest member of his cabinet, the president can not just deploy resources to his own state without recourse to a process, the only advantage he has is that he can facilitate development to his area but this can not be done with a neglect to other regions because the other regions are equally represented in the government. Can we imagine the president budgeting the national budget to develop only his state, in a democracy that budget must go through the national assembly and does anyone think that the members representing other regions just allow these sail through, impossible!
Let us leave the federal character as it is but develop a system that allows the best of the best be considered at any point in time, the Federal character is the basis why we have every state at least producing a minister to the FEC, so we cant possibly state that a state no matter how under developed and uneducated can not provide a ministerial candidate.

Zoning should be clearly defined in the constitution and just like some have advocated it should be on geopolitical zones and not the North and south as being peddled by the Atikus.

Zoning have nothing to do with eradicating poverty in Nigeria so let's forget about this zoning of a thing. all we need is somebody with high profile that can change the lives of Nigerian.

Kcswat22:

North is bunch of useless peoples. When r we going to have a country without dem. I cant wait for 2015 disintegration. Human beign n animals cant live together.

Do you not think that the whiteman would be justified in thinking that blacks should be culled?
Your contribution to world development is not much more than the "useless" north has made.
But the whiteman made internet, aviation, electricity, automobile etc etc possible
Yet you want him to stand in the same world with you?

PANACEA FOR ZONING PROBLEMS, TRIBALISM AND NEPOTISM -- OPEN THE DEAR COUNTRY UP TO ALL CITIZENRY

Nigeria continues to be bedeviled by problems of sectionalism, tribalism, zoning, nepotism etc. which are threatening to tear us apart. I think this generation should take a good look at the present situation and confront it. The sectionalism in Nigeria plays a crucial role in our underdevelopment because in order to satisfy each part of the Federation, incompetent people are appointed into positions they do not qualify for: round pegs in square holes. A good example is the present controversy engendered by the zoning policy of the ruling party, the PDP. But there is a better way.

Isn't it time to open up the good God-given country to all her citizens? I think it is time to abolish requiring people to declare their "States of origin." Rather we should be concerned with people's domicile -- where they currently permanently live in and intend to remain at. I think it is time to move away the suspicion we have of each other and fear of ethnic domination: it is time to open up the country. I know that my idea is revolutionary in a country where we have been made to believe that the most important thing in your life is your "State of origin", but it takes a revolution to change our colonial way of thinking, which was devised by the imperialists, who divided us into arbitrary parts, in order to facilitate their rule over us.

In 1976, shortly before he was assassinated, our then Head of State, General Murtala Mohammed, in creating seven new States out of the previous twelve declared no matter the number of States created, there will always be minority problems. In his opinion, the answer to the agitation of minorities is for people to see themselves "first as Nigerians." General Mohammed tried to disabuse our minds from ethnic thinking, by changing the names of States from Western etc to Oyo Ogun etc, East to Imo, Anambra etc. Let us be the generation which will build on the work started by Murtala Mohammed, perhaps the most patriotic leader ever to rule Nigeria, by opening up this country to all it's citizens, so that we will start to see ourselves "first as Nigerians." If we do this, tribalism and ethnicity will lose its grip on us within one single generation.

I propose that Nigerians be allowed to claim as their home States, any State where they have resided in for a continuous period of two years, and where they intend to remain. This will be a panacea for all our zoning, tribal and sectional problems. Here in America, nobody asks you for your "State of origin "; they are only interested in your present domicile, and your prior addresses for the past five to ten years. As a matter of fact, many people I interview do not remember the "home State" of their parents. They see themselves first and foremost as Americans, and if they are politicians, they will represent the interest of their local communities. Here in America, anybody can move to any part of America and work there. Local schools charge differential fees if you go to a school outside your domicile, but you are not discriminated against, based on your nebulous "State of origin." You can establish residency in any part of the country as you wish.

Just pause and think what this type of policy will do for Nigeria. It will elevate the country, and break the chains of sectionalism which has deterred the development of the country since the days of Lord Lugard. People will move to the communities where they can find work, and establish domicile there, knowing that they are not going to be discriminated against. The best brains who could get the job done will take up offices round the country, and the mediocres will slide down the social ladder. In choosing our leaders, the primary consideration will be their past achievements and their philosophies and beliefs, not their "State of Origin." How nice would it be for "Okechuckwu to be elected Governnor of Oshun State, Adebayo to be elected Senator from Zamfara State, and Alhaji Gombe as the President, from Delta State? We will have a true united, and great country, Nigeria.

I think it is time to open up the country, and do away with division, sectionalism and the tribalistic "State of origin." It should be enough that we are Nigerians, and that we are ready to do everything we can, to make this country great. Let us be the generation that sets this country on the path of greatness!

Very Respectfully,


Emmanuel O. Fashakin, M.D.; Esq.:-)
Attorney at Law & President/ Medical Director,
Alpha-K Family Medical Practice, P.C.
79-35 153rd Street, Flushing, NY 11367,USA
Tel: (718) 591-1600; Fax: (718) 591-0265
web address: www.alphak.org
alternative e-mail: mdfash2@gmail.com
Mobile phones: +1-347-217-6175; +1-267-907-3127

"For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." 1 Cor 2:13