Kogi and Benue states indigenes constitute 22.2 per cent of the total workforce of the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), a situation that violates the Federal Character principle.
Investigations by LEADERSHIP show that out of the 465 workers engaged by the authority, Kogi State has a total of 58, representing 12.5 per cent of the total staff strength. Benue State comes second with 45 staff members, representing 9.7 per cent of the staff of the Authority.
Section 14 (3) of the 1999 Constitution states that, “The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few states or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that government or in any of its agencies.”
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According to the federal Character Commission (Establishment Act 1997), section 4, sub-section 6, “Each state shall produce 2.75 per cent of the total work force in any federal establishment while the federal capital territory shall produce 1 per cent for the indigenes of the FCT provided that the commission may adopt a range so that the indigenes of any state of the federation shall not constitute less than the lower limit or more that the upper limit.”
At the FHA, however, things are different. After Kogi and Benue, Imo State is third with a total of 23 workers, representing 4.9 per cent, while Kwara State comes fourth with a total of 22, representing 4.7 per cent of the workforce. Kebbi State comes fifth with a total of 20, representing 4.3 per cent, while Delta and Borno states come sixth with 19 staff members, representing 4.1 per cent.
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Others include: Anambra State,16 or 3.4 per cent; Akwa Ibom State,15 or 3.2 per cent of the Authority’s workforce.
Ogun State has a total of 14 staff members, representing 3.0 per cent, while Adamawa, Niger, Osun, Oyo and Plateau states have 13 each, representing 2.8 per cent.
Kano State has a total of 11 workers, representing 2.4 per cent of the Authority’s workforce while Abia, Cross River and Edo states have 10 each, representing 2.2 per cent.
However, Bauchi, Jigawa and Ondo states have nine staff members each, representing 1.9 per cent, while Ekiti, Enugu and Gombe states have eight workers, representing 1.7 per cent.
Sokoto State has six workers, representing 1.3 per cent, while Lagos, Katsina, Taraba, Yobe, Zamfara have three staff members each, representing 0.6 per cent of the Authority’s workforce.
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Rivers and Bayelsa states have two workers each, representing 0.4 per cent while the Federal Capital Authority has only one employee in the organisation.
Investigations also reveal that Kogi State has the highest number in the top management staff of the authority with one executive director, two deputy general managers, six assistant general managers, 11 chiefs, six assistant chiefs and 13 principal officers I, among others.
On the other hand, Benue State produced the managing director and chief executive of the authority in addition to one general manager, two deputy general managers, two assistant general managers, five chiefs, six assistant chiefs and seven principal officers I, among others.
When contacted, the assistant general manager, public affairs of the Authority, Mr. Tunde Ipinmisho, confirmed that Kogi and Benue states have the highest number of staff members in the organisation.
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He said, “What I have here is a breakdown of the total and what I have from Benue State is 9.5 percent of the entire staff and what I have from Kogi State is 12 per cent. The explanation for that is simple.
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“The Federal Housing Authority is situated in north-central Nigeria and so for certain levels of staff, say, level six downwards, the north-central is our immediate catchment area. And when you quoted Section 14 of the 1999 Constitution, I want to say that the Federal Housing Authority was created in 1973 and since then it has been recruiting staff.
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“The Constitution is a 1999 document. That means the FHA is by far older than the constitution that we are operating now. I don’t think the intention of the people who made the constitution was that people would be sacked as the constitution has come into play; some of these people you are talking about have been here for close to 25 years.
“Are we to embark on a mass sack so that federal character principle would be implemented? We are committed to reflecting the Federal Character but it would have to be in subsequent recruitments, and I can make bold to tell you that, for the past six years, there has not been any recruitment in this place.”
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