The Application of Federal Character Principle and Its Implication on Service Delivery in Nigerian Federal Civil Service

Abstract

The study examined the application of federal character principle and its implication on service delivery in Nigerian federal civil service. The Nigerian federal civil service is the bedrock of Nigeria’s quest for socio-economic development. However, over the years, service delivery and infrastructural development have remained a hydra headed problem. The study relied heavily on primary and secondary data and multi the stage sampling method was used to select the sample population. The data collected was presented in frequency tables and analysed using descriptive statistics such as mean, table and standard deviation. Pearson chi-square test of goodness was used to test the hypotheses.  Findings of the study show that there is a relationship between federal character principle and employees’ service delivery as well as poor attitude to work by bureaucrats. To achieve efficient service delivery and better attitude to work by civil servants in the service, government should imbibe the prescripts of Marx Weber bureaucratic theory as regards recruitment based on merit, technical competency and qualification, as well as re-examine the reliability and validity of the application of federal character principle or better be situated within grade levels 03-06 while recruitment into the senior officers cadre grade levels 07-17 and appointments should be strictly based on merit.