Nigerian Navy Recruitment hits the dark side of the news with the Trending Supplementary List. On the list, names of candidates from the Northern part of the country appeared under the Southern States. We can easily take this as a typo. However, the typo was biased as it affected only states from the South.
A state like Abia State had Abubakar Sabiu. Bala Danjuma appeared under Anambra State. Abubakar Habeeb Muhammed made it under Edo State and Imo State had Abdullahi Ahmed.
When closely checked, no name from the South made it on the list from any part of the North. From all indications, it is either that the quota that belongs to the South is being re-allocated to the North or that the people in charge of the list are intentionally replacing the names of people from the southern part of the country with people from the north.
The Nigerian Federal Character Principle
This goes against what the Nigerian Navy stands for. Nigerian Navy’s primary duty is to defend the nation, protect our national interest and fulfill their national responsibilities. Checking the stress already on the integrity of Nigeria as a nation, institutions like the Nigerian Navy owe the country a reassurance of their integrity. They should be sensitive enough to shun nepotism and sacrifice their individual interest and put the nation first.
For an institution that understands the importance of the Nigerian Federal Character Principle, the trending supplementary went directly against the bedrock of the concept. it did not try to redress horizontal inequalities between different groups in society. Again, it did not – in any way – try to foster national loyalty or offer every interest group in Nigeria a sense of belonging.
At this stage, Nigeria needs solid evidence of fairness among every group. This supplementary list from Nigerian Navy Recruitment is not aiding the matter.
