The Federal Character Commission has called on all federal tertiary institutions to apply principles of federal character in their recruitment for equity, fairness and justice.

This was disclosed in a statement on Wednesday by FCC spokesman Chuks Okoli.

Mr Okoli said the principle must be applied in accordance with section 14 (B) of the Constitution.

He noted that the FCC had observed that some federal tertiary institutions now embarked on staff recruitment without recourse to the FCC, saddled with the responsibility of ensuring equity, fairness, and justice in such exercise.

He explained that the commission’s mandate was to enforce the federal character principle, which aims to ensure the fair and equitable distribution of posts, socio-economic amenities, and infrastructural facilities amongst the federating units nationwide.

“Therefore, all the Federal Character Commission guidelines must be strictly adhered to by any recruiting federal tertiary institution. For the avoidance of doubt, please refer to the commission’s handbook.

“Any person, MDA or federal tertiary institution that carries out recruitment without abiding by the Federal Character Commission’s recruitment guideline and principle shall be committing an offence under section 14, punishable under section 15 of the Act.

“National Universities Commission (NUC), National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), all heads of federal institutions and other relevant authorities are to please take note,” Mr Okoli said.

(NAN)