Merit Foundation Condemns Calls to Prioritize Zoning Over Meritocracy in Appointments

The Nigerians in Diaspora Merit and Compliance Foundation (NDMCF) has condemned calls for appointments into key national institutions, including the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), to be determined by the alphabetical order of states under zoning arrangements rather than by merit and excellence.

The Foundation made this position known in a press release signed by its Country Director, Dr. Sani Usman, Esq., and issued in Abuja on Monday.

According to the Foundation, such calls are not only flawed but fundamentally hostile to meritocracy, excellence, and inclusive national development. It stressed that any attempt to substitute competence with arbitrary criteria undermines institutional effectiveness and national progress.

The statement noted that, in line with NDMCF’s core objectives of promoting integrity, meritocracy, and compliance with legal and ethical standards, the Foundation would continue to advocate for the prioritisation of merit over zoning in public appointments.

“Alphabetical sequencing is an administrative convenience, not a governance philosophy, and it has absolutely no place in determining leadership for institutions entrusted with safeguarding Nigeria’s fiscal sovereignty,” the Foundation stated.

It further emphasised that the principles of federal character and regional balance had already been sufficiently addressed through the appointment of one Executive Director from each of the six geopolitical zones.

“In fact, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, demonstrated a commendable commitment to national inclusion and institutional competence by appointing capable, seasoned professionals drawn from all six regions of the country,” the statement added.

The Foundation described as regressive and mischievous any suggestion that competence should be subordinated to an arbitrary alphabetical rotation of states, especially after constitutional and political balancing considerations had already been met. Such thinking, it said, is primordial in outlook and inconsistent with modern public administration.

“The Nigeria Revenue Service, as the apex institution responsible for revenue mobilisation, compliance, enforcement, and institutional credibility, requires leadership of the highest competence, experience, and integrity,” the Foundation said.

“To subordinate merit, professional depth, gender balance, and institutional continuity to the accident of alphabetic order is to deliberately weaken state capacity. It reduces public service to chance, rewards mediocrity, and actively undermines excellence.”

The Foundation further explained that, assuming without conceding that such a provision was inserted into the version of the Act circulated by the National Assembly, it would represent one of the most perverse and ill-considered insertions in the history of Nigerian public administration.

It warned that any of such clause would be indefensible in principle and disastrous in practice, adding that if it exists at all, the National Assembly has an urgent duty to expunge it from the Act in order to preserve institutional effectiveness and legislative credibility.

NDMCF also expressed concern over credible reports suggesting that the clause in question did not exist in the version of the Bill assented to by the President.

“If this is the case, then the real scandal lies not in the appointments themselves, but in the possibility of post-assent alterations to statutory texts which is a practice that strikes at the heart of constitutional order, the rule of law, and the integrity of the legislative process,” the statement warned.

Reaffirming its commitment to promoting systems that reward merit, hard work, and talent over nepotism, favoritism, and corruption, the Foundation stressed that equity must never be confused with arbitrariness.

“Federal character, inclusion, and regional balance were never intended to negate merit; rather, they exist to ensure fairness alongside competence,” it stated.

“The professional profiles of the appointed Executive Directors spanning tax administration, finance, technology, policy, and institutional reform, clearly demonstrate that merit, diversity, and geopolitical balance can and must coexist.”

“Nigeria does not need alphabetical governance. It needs strong institutions led by capable, credible professionals selected on the basis of competence and integrity, not the spelling of their states. Anything less is not reform; it is self-inflicted sabotage,” the Foundation concluded