Government Questions and Answers

The National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is a bicameral legislature established under section 4 of the Nigerian Constitution. It consists of a Senate with 109 membersand a 360-memberHouse of Representatives The body, modelled after the federal Congress of the United States, is supposed to guarantee equal representation of the 36 states irrespective of size in the Senate and proportional representation of population in the House. The National Assembly, like many other organs of the Nigerian government, is based in Abuja, in the Federal Capital Territory.

The Assembly has broad oversight functions and is empowered to establish committees of its members to scrutinise bills and the conduct of government officials.

Nigeria Police Force. The Nigeria Police Force is the principal law enforcement agency in Nigeria with a staff strength of about 371,800. There are currently plans to increase the force to 650,000, adding 280,000 new recruits to the existing 370,000.

The federal character and quota system as enshrined in the constitution of Nigeria is to ensure equitable distributions of bureaucratic and political roles in the public service at federal, states and local government levels. The objectives of the policy are to foster national unity and give every Nigerian a sense of belonging in the country. 

A person who holds a government position by election or appointment is called a public servant. 

The terms Civil Servant and Public Servant can be differentiated using the following parameters;

Employees of the civil service or a ministry or a government department are known as civil servants while employees of a public corporation are called public servants.

While workers of a public corporation are appointed or employed by the board of directors, whereas civil servants are employed by the public service commission.

While the civil service performs administrative functions, the public corporation provides social services and amenities to the general public.

The civil service is managed by a minister, advised by the Director General (Permanent Secretary) while public corporation is managed by members of the board of directors.

The principle for privatization in Nigeria commenced in 1999 with the aim to diversify totally or partially, the shares owned by the Federal Government, its agencies and parastatals in public. enterprise active or dormant. The primary goal of the privatization in Nigeria is to reduce the dominance of the public sector and to  re-structure and rationalize the public sector in order to lessen the dominant unproductive investment in that sector.