Not Just Igbo, Every Nigerian Tribe Marginalised – FCC Boss

Dr. Shettima Bukar Abba, the Acting Executive-Chairman, Federal Character Commission (FCC), has said marginalisation in the country is not restricted to the Igbo ethnic group alone.

Describing marginalisation as a cankerworm affecting every Nigerian tribe, Abba said if a closer look is taken at both federal and state Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), one will find a particular ethnic group dominating other tribes in one way or the other.

“Some groups are talking about marginalization in federal appointments but if you look at the Federal Character strictly and contextualize it in particular MDAs, there is no state or tribe which is not marginalised.

“For instance, if you look at all the appointments in Federal University, Ebonyi and analyze them in the light of equal representation of the 36 states of the federation and Abuja, you will definitely find out that some states are not represented within the institution’s workforce.

“You will find the same thing if you go to Kano or Jigawa. So, it tells you that every state and tribe is marginalized in one way or the other.

“But what the law says is that there should not be a predominance of any state or ethnic group in within federal MDAs in the country,” he said.

Abba blamed late and incomplete submission of nominal roll for issues bordering on marginalisation and lopsidedness in the federal character.

“We need to see and analyze the nominal rolls and identify states of the federation not represented or under-represented in particular MDAs before we can advise properly,” he said

On what is being done by the Federal Government to address perceived lopsidedness and marginalisation in the country, the FCC boss said the Presidency, through the Federal Character Commission, will train Desk Officers across all MDAs between October 9th and 24th on monthly and real-time management of their nominal rolls.

“The training is mandatory. It is an offence if the Federal Character Commission asks an MDA for information or participation in a particular activity to enable it fulfill the requirements of the law considering the diverse nature of our population and the MDA refuses to cooperate.

“The training of Desk Officers is very important because we also want to have a uniform format of receiving the nominal rolls from them through our own portal.

“I want to add that such trainings will avail us to get a direct statistics of what is required to address marginalization.

“By the time we address this issue of inaccurate data collection through the training of Desk Officers on the correct format for filing their nominal rolls, we can focus on data analysis and determination of ways to address the imbalances,” he said.

Meanwhile, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, on Thursday in Abuja, restated that most marginalisation claims in the country are not factual.