Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has advised that merit be given paramount consideration as a criterion in the appointment of persons into public offices instead of federal character.
Osinbajo’s remark, which is bound to trigger a debate, is coming at a time Nigerians are eagerly awaiting the appointment of political office holders into the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The vice-president made the call Thursday when he delivered a keynote address at the 10th memorial anniversary lecture organised by the Justice P.O.E Bassey Foundation held at the International Conference Centre of the University of Calabar, Cross River State.
He referred to the selection of players for Nigeria’s national football teams, saying: “Nigerians expect the best to be chosen by the team manager or the coach in order to get the desired results.
“At that instance, nobody considers where a player or players come from. All they expect of the coach are players who merit places in the team and can get results.”
Speaking further, the vice-president said: “I don’t take my health for granted. So when going for a medical doctor, I go for the best not considering which part of the country the doctor comes from.
“If we take government seriously, we must as Nigerians look for merit before federal character.”
Quoting from the scriptures, Osinbajo said: “Righteousness exalts a nation,” explaining that it is a simple expression, but carries great depth.
“No society has developed that has not kept to some form of core values. Governance has to be based on principles and ideals. One of such principles is hard work. It is also critical that the work be positively directed and productive in the end,” he counselled.
He pointed out that one of the reasons Nigeria had not developed as quickly as other countries was because people are not paid for the hours they work.
“Most of the developed countries of the world run a system based on pay for hours worked,” he said.
He enumerated other principles that must be ingrained for the success of the nation as integrity, reward for merit,consequences as opposed to impunity, and social justice where money should be given to the extremely poor by government.
However, he said though government should not ignore the federal character principle, the value of merit must come first when appointments and critical policies are up for consideration.
-ThisDay
The post Merit Should Come Before Federal Character In Public Appointments–Osinbajo appeared first on Ekekeee.