Nigeria’s long-running crisis of governance has many fronts, but few are as corrosive and as quietly devastating as the capture of public recruitment by ethnic and personal patronage networks. According to the 2025 ICPC Ethics and Integrity Compliance Scorecard, some federal agencies have turned their employment processes into de facto ethnic monopolies. In one extreme case, 189 out of 190 new job offers over two years went to candidates from the same geopolitical zone as the head of the agency.

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has confirmed ongoing investigations into similar “job racketeering” in several other Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), including the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Justice, and others with troubling recruitment opacity. These actions not only breach the Federal Character Principle, which was enshrined in the 1999 Constitution to foster inclusiveness; they also erode the moral legitimacy of the Nigerian state.

Yet this is not just about bad actors; it is a systemic failure. The 2025 Scorecard found that 52 federal MDAs scored zero on compliance, having completely ignored ICPC’s audit requests. Ministries charged with upholding equity, education, finance, and power scored between 18.9 percent and 46 percent, well below the ICPC’s minimum threshold for transparency. No significant disciplinary action has followed.

Such revelations fuel public disillusionment. According to a UNODC-cited 2024 report, state capture and nepotism are “entrenched and incentivised” in public sector recruitment. Nigeria’s Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index score, stagnant at 26/100 in 2024, placed the country at 140 out of 180 nations. What is more alarming is not just Nigeria’s low score, but that there appears to be no strategic plan to reverse the trend.

Some defenders of the status quo argue that geopolitical balancing in recruitment is necessary to prevent regional dominance, as provided by the Federal Character Commission (FCC) Act. But this legal protection against marginalisation was never intended to substitute ethnicity for competence. What is happening now, where directors use public institutions to empower kin and cronies, is not federal character. It is a feudal capture disguised as inclusion.

Others say political loyalty, not ethnicity, drives appointments. That is true in many cases. Yet ethnicity and loyalty often overlap, particularly in Nigeria’s political culture of patronage. Either way, the outcome is the same: qualified candidates are locked out, the most vulnerable are excluded, and the legitimacy of public institutions withers.

The ICPC’s Chairman, Dr. Musa Adamu Aliyu, has warned that the current trend undermines social cohesion and kills the hopes of an increasingly disillusioned youth population. These concerns are echoed online, where citizens lament that they are “rejected not for failing tests, but for being from the wrong tribe.” On r/Nigeria, one user asked, “Why sit for civil service exams if one’s surname is the real determinant?”

In a now-publicised case, ICPC uncovered a ghost staffing scheme in a federal health institution where five salary accounts were created in the names of the agency head’s relatives, including a minor under the age of 10. Funds were disbursed repeatedly without verification. Elsewhere, a national agency under the presidency reportedly bypassed recruitment processes to insert dozens of names hand-picked from a single senatorial zone. These are not clerical oversights; they are structured betrayals of the national contract.

And yet, no one is held to account.

Nigeria cannot be built on exclusion, nor can it be unified by cynically distributing jobs like spoils of war. The following reforms must be urgently implemented:

A federal character compliance dashboard:

All MDAs must publish annual recruitment data, broken down by state and qualification tier. A live dashboard, hosted by the Federal Character Commission and ICPC, should track appointments and allow for real-time scrutiny by the public.

Independent compliance audits:

A joint FCC–ICPC task force should be empowered to halt or invalidate recruitment exercises that fail minimum compliance thresholds. Repeat offenders must face criminal charges under the Public Service Rules and ICPC Act.

Strengthening whistleblower protection:

Insiders willing to expose patronage networks must be shielded from retaliation. Whistleblowers currently face dismissal or persecution in Nigeria. A strengthened legal and security framework is needed, underpinned by the Whistleblower Protection Bill.

Publishing nominal rolls:

Every MDA must maintain and publish a complete, searchable list of current staff with their dates of employment, roles, and states of origin. This is the only way to unmask ghost workers and nepotistic insertions.

Consequences for political appointees:

No reform can succeed without personal consequences for leaders. Agency heads who violate equity laws must be suspended, prosecuted, and barred from further public service. Until someone is jailed for ethnic job racketeering, the practice will continue.

With over 200 million citizens, more than 600 ethnic groups, and one of the world’s fastest-growing youth populations, Nigeria cannot afford to continue mortgaging its future to nepotistic fiefdoms. While the nation mouths platitudes about unity, its institutions entrench exclusion.

Worse, this practice sends a fatalistic message to the next generation: you may excel, but you will not belong. It is a message that fuels brain drain, radicalisation, and national resentment.

To recover trust, Nigeria’s leaders must show moral courage. They must lead the call for fair appointments, not just in law but in practice. There must be no ambiguity: every Nigerian deserves a fair shot, regardless of name, language, or zone.

If Nigeria is to function as a nation-state, it must first abandon the logic of ethnic loyalty and embrace the ethos of meritocracy. This is not a northern issue or a southern issue. It is a national emergency.

Merit is not the enemy of equity. On the contrary, it is the only path to it. (BusinessDay)