JUDICIAL ACTIVISM AS A TOOL FOR IMPLEMENTING FEDERAL CHARACTER PRINCIPLE IN NIGERIA

Abstract

One of the constitutional policies for managing ethnic diversity and pluralism in Nigeria is the federal character principle which is enshrined in section 14 (3) of the 1999 Constitution as amended. By this principle, all organs of government and all authorities or persons exercising legislative, executive or judicial powers shall ensure that every section of the country is fairly represented in the composition of the Government of the Federation. The responsibility for enforcing compliance with the principle of federal character primarily rests on the Federal Character Commission established by section 153 of the Constitution. But as a federal executive body, this Commission is directly under the control of the federal government, and this makes it almost impossible for the Commission to discharge its functions without interference from the federal government. This ugly situation is compounded by the fact that the federal character principle is contained in Chapter II of the 1999 Constitution, which is made nonjusticiable by section 6 (6) (c) of the Constitution. The implication of this is that where the federal character principle is violated, no one could approach any court in Nigeria to enforce compliance with it. This paper examined the possibility of implementing the federal character principle in Nigeria through judicial activism. This paper found that even though federal character principle is ordinarily non-justiciable that it could still be implemented through judicial activism pursuant to section 13 of the Constitution which mandates judicial officers to conform to, observe and apply the provisions of Chapter II of the Constitution in the exercise of their judicial powers. The paper also found that the federal character principle could be implemented via judicial activism where it is directly or impliedly linked to any justiciable part of the Constitution or any statute with constitutional flavour. Therefore, this paper called on the judicial officers in Nigeria to rise to the occasion by taken active steps in the exercise their judicial powers to ensure that the essence of the federal character principle is not lost because of the legalism of its character.