The House of Representatives Committee on University Education has raised concerns over what it described as a growing disregard for federal character principles in staff recruitment and student admissions at several federal universities.
The Chairman of the Committee, Abubakar Hassan Fulata, made the disclosure in a statement issued to journalists in Abuja on Thursday.
The statement followed the committee’s recent oversight visits to the University of Ibadan, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, the Federal University of Technology, Akure, and other federal universities in the South-West.
According to Fulata, adherence to federal character must be reflected in staff recruitment and student admissions across public universities, regardless of their geographical location.
“We have observed that many universities are not complying with the federal character principles in the appointment and employment of workers, even in the admission of students.
“The Act establishing the Federal Character Commission is very clear on this aspect: 2.7 per cent equity share for each state of the federation, 1 per cent for the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, and 3 per cent for the state where the institution is located. But there is no semblance of this in these universities today,” Fulata noted.
He stressed that the oversight exercise was not intended to witch-hunt anyone but was a constitutional obligation designed to promote efficiency, transparency, and accountability in the system.
Fulata acknowledged that while universities face numerous unmet needs, available resources must be properly managed.
He criticised the spending of huge sums on travel, entertainment, and other non-essential items at the expense of critical academic and infrastructural priorities.
He also warned against the suppression of figures, under-reporting of internally generated revenue, misrepresentation of records, and irreconcilable financial entries.
Other universities visited by the Committee included the Federal University, Oye Ekiti; the Federal University of Health Sciences, Ila Orangun, Osun State; the Federal University of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Abeokuta, Ogun State; and the Nigerian French Language Village, Badagry, Lagos State.
The federal character principle was introduced in the late 1970s and formally entrenched in the 1999 Constitution (Section 14(3)), alongside the Federal Character Commission Act, to ensure equitable distribution of public sector jobs, fair representation of all states and ethnic groups, and prevention of dominance by any region or group.
In the context of education, federal character was intended to broaden access and integrate Nigeria’s diverse population within national institutions.
Despite clear guidelines, investigations over the years have shown that some universities admit disproportionately from their host states or regions, sidelining applicants from other parts of the country. Merit lists are sometimes overshadowed by internal policies that favour local candidates beyond the limits allowed by federal character rules. Catchment area policies, although legally recognised, have frequently been applied in ways that distort national spread, contributing to repeated complaints from parents, civil society groups, and lawmakers about lopsided admissions. The same trend has been observed in staff recruitment.
