Prof. Okpata, F.O (Ph.D)
&
Ikechukwu Ogeze Ukeje
Department of Political Science, Federal University Ndufu-Alike Ikwo.
Abstract.
This paper “Justice and Human Dignity in the Development of Nigerian Federalism and Public Service System: The Problem of Good Governance” was aimed at identifying as well as analyzing Justice and Human Dignity as the challenges of Good Governance in the development of Nigeria Federal system. The broad objective of this paper is to assess the nature and implication of justice and human dignity as it affect good governance in Nigerian development. The paper employed the historical and descriptive approach, using secondary data. The paper is anchored on the Frustration-Aggression theoretical postulations to analyze the study and it thus, revealed that the trace of injustice in Nigerian federal structure has resulted to several agitations for state creation, revenue generation and control, equal participation of all in the management of our common wealth, unemployment, political instability, faulty electoral system and process, bloated bureaucratic corruption, faulty institutional framework, weak state, state of insecurity, increase crime wave and the development of ethnic militias in the likes of Niger-Delta, MASSOB and the Boko Haram insurgence etc.; and that the application of the federal character principle in Nigeria public sector organizations has significant effect the human dignity as it has enthroned mediocrity at the expense of meritocracy and professionalism. The paper therefore concludes that the nature and structure of Nigerian federalism right from origin creates the impression of discrimination, ethnicity, tribalism and sectionalism which undermine the philosophy of human dignity and all other attendant challenges to good governance in Nigeria.
Keywords: Justice, Human Dignity, Federal Character Principle, Federalism, Development and Good Governance.
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