Favoritism, Cronyism And Nepotism In Niger State: Kontagora In Focus

I will like to start by telling you the cardinal reason why I choose to write this article. It was not longer a news to those who are working in the State Ministry of Works particularly Engineering department that "Some civil servants mostly of the Engineering section in the State Ministry of Works has retired before now but they refuse to vacate office and nothing is done about it simply because they are from Kontagora Emirates while eating the future of their own children's. The rightful and competent people that are expected to legally occupy the positions hail from other regions of the state."

Now I will like to give a brief definition of the above mentioned trending topics.

Basically favoritism is just what it sounds like; it's favoring a person not because he or she is doing the best job but rather because of some extraneous feature-membership in a favored group, personal likes and dislikes, etc. Favoritism can be demonstrated in hiring, honoring, or awarding contracts. A related idea is patronage, giving public service jobs to those who may have helped elect the person who has the power of appointment. Favoritism has always been a complaint in government service. Cronyism is a more specific form of favoritism, referring to partiality towards friends and associates. As the old saying goes, "It's not what you know but who you know," or, as blogger Danny Ferguson put it, "It's not what you don't know; it's who your college roommate knows." Cronyism occurs within a network of insiders-the "good boys," who confer favors on one another. Nepotism is an even narrower form of favoritism. Coming from the Italian word for nephew, it covers favoritism to members of the family. Both nepotism and cronyism are often at work when political parties recruit candidates for public office.

Probably the biggest dilemma presented by favoritism is that, under various other names, few people see it as a problem. Connections, networking, family-almost everyone has drawn on these sources of support in job hunting in the public sphere.

The first issue is competence. For cabinet level positions, an executive will probably be drawn to experienced, qualified candidates, but historically, the lower down the ladder, the more likely for someone's brother-in-law to be slipped into a job for which he is not qualified for.

Reasonable people will differ about the appointment of friends and family in high-level positions, but public officials should be aware that such choices can give the appearance of unfairness.

And lastly, public officials should also note that dilemmas involving favoritism extend beyond hiring and contracting practices to the more general problem of influence. MoU and business partners, political associates, girlfriends and members of the same families, all are likely to exert a greater influence over an official than a stranger might. State members or legislators must make special efforts to ensure that they find a lasting solution to this menace of favoritism, cronyism and nepotism rather than just relying on the views or influence of the governor and people they know.

Furthermore, many conscientious lawmakers have discovered that they must change their patterns of socializing when their work involves many decisions affecting friends and associates. At the least, they may choose to recuse themselves from votes where social relationships may exert undue influence.

By Usman Mohammed
07060815443
[email protected]
Wrote from Chenche House, Lapai-Niger State.