From “Yorubanization” To “Northernization”: The Endless Tug-of-War Over Federal Jobs In Nigeria

By TIMOTHY HAGGERTY-NWOKOLO

WHEN former President Muhammadu Buhari began trending again on social media in October 2025, it wasn’t for his familiar anti-corruption rhetoric or quiet post-presidency life in Daura. It was because Nigerians—particularly from the North and South West—were locked in a heated digital brawl over what many now call the federal character hypocrisy.

The spark? Allegations that the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) had quietly tilted its latest recruitment in favour of the South West, with Lagos State alone reportedly receiving 11% of all new hires.

The Numbers That Sparked a Storm

The controversy began when the Kano State House of Assembly accused the Customs Service of injustice after reportedly hiring 1,785 people nationwide—with the South West cornering about 45% of the total, while the North West managed only around 7%.

According to the figures being circulated:

• Lagos got 207 slots, Ogun 145, Ondo 132, Osun 127, Oyo 108, and Ekiti 93 — totalling 812 recruits from the South West.

• The North West, by contrast, had Kano (31), Katsina (20), Jigawa (18), and Zamfara (16) — 85 hires in all, with figures from Sokoto, Kebbi, and Kaduna yet to be made public.

To Northern politicians, this was clear bias. “It’s an insult to the principle of federal character,” one Kano legislator fumed during a plenary session.

Social media followed suit, with Arewa influencers and even Bashir Ahmad, a former aide to Buhari, demanding the recruitment list be reviewed for fairness.

The Customs Service swiftly issued a statement clarifying that no official recruitment list had been released, calling the figures “unverified.” But the damage had been done—the regional blame game had already gone viral.

When the North Did the Same

Southern commentators, particularly from the South West and South-South, were quick to remind their Northern critics that this was not the first time Nigeria had faced a skewed recruitment storm—and that the North had long benefited from similar imbalances.

They dug up old cases, like the Department of State Services (DSS) recruitment scandal of 2020, where documents showed that the North got 535 slots, while the entire South received just 93.

In 2017, another DSS recruitment drive reportedly enlisted 922 cadets, with 330 from the North West alone. The total breakdown showed 650 recruits from the North and 286 from the South—a glaring disparity that sparked outrage but led to little reform.

Even the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) was repeatedly accused of regional favouritism under Buhari’s administration. In 2021, Niger Delta youth groups threatened to shut down oil facilities, citing “Northern domination in NNPC employment.” The year before, civil society groups had alleged that the NNPC carried out “secret recruitments” skewed in favour of Northern candidates.

Federal Character or Federal Contention?

The ongoing recriminations highlight an uncomfortable truth: Nigeria’s federal character principle—enshrined in the Constitution to promote inclusion—has become a political football.

Rather than fostering unity, it has entrenched competition and suspicion between regions, with every major recruitment drive turning into a North-vs-South audit of perceived advantages.

Experts argue that both the Buhari and Tinubu administrations have failed to break this cycle. Under Buhari, the accusation was “Northernization” of appointments; under Tinubu, critics now speak of “Yorubanization.” Both labels reveal a shared mistrust of federal institutions and a fragile sense of national equity.

Dr. Okey Nwosu, a political analyst, puts it succinctly:

“In Nigeria, every administration promises meritocracy but ends up practicing geography. The victims and beneficiaries just swap regions.”

The Bigger Picture

Beyond the regional bickering lies a more pressing issue — Nigeria’s broken recruitment process. From Customs and NNPC to DSS and Immigration, allegations of secret lists, nepotism, and ethnic bias have become routine.

The Public Service Commission often lacks oversight power, while most agencies treat employment as patronage rather than public service. In such a climate, every recruitment becomes a national scandal-in-waiting.

For millions of unemployed Nigerians, the debates about “who got more slots” are not just political—they represent lost opportunities and shattered hope.

A Cycle That Must Be Broken

As Nigerians trade blame online—Southerners pointing at Buhari’s past, Northerners calling out Tinubu’s present—the pattern of ethnic entitlement continues to erode faith in national institutions.

What both sides seem to miss is that neither Northernization nor Yorubanization serves the ordinary citizen. Until recruitment is fully transparent, merit-driven, and publicly verifiable, the next federal employment drive will likely ignite another regional storm.

Because in Nigeria, every job list is a political battleground.