FEDERAL CHARACTER PRINCIPLE AND NATIONAL INTEGRATION IN EDO STATE, NIGERIA: ISSUES, CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS

Abstract

This paper interrogates the federal character principle and national integration in Edo state, Nigeria, with the aim of examining the issues, challenges and prospects of the principle. The research focuses on the impact of the federal character principle, the challenges of the federal character principle as well as the prospects of the federal character principle. The research was carried out in Edo state, Nigeria, where the University of Benin was chosen as the population for the study. This is as a result of the fact the university of Benin is one of the largest federal institutions in Edo state. The paper adopts the survey research method, where 180 out of the 190 respondents selected using the stratified and simple random sampling techniques, responded to a well-structured questionnaire in line with the objectives of this research. It was discovered that the federal character principle encourages national integration but has not been able to achieve it fully in Edo state and Nigeria at large. Moreso, it encourages mediocrity and discourages merit as well as productivity in public institutions. This paper recommends that the federal character principle should be revisited by way of improving it to pay attention to merit while also paying attention to representation from all regions of the country. The “best hands” should be recruited from the different regions of the country into government institutions in order to ensure merit and productivity.