Abstract: The main purpose of this research work was to examine the federal character principles in Nigerian public services exercise towards an output efficiency at the national planning commission (NPC) its relationship with the recruitment exercise in the public service. This was prompted by the fact that there is growing disenchantment in some quarters about the implementation of the federal character principle, which they believe leads to the violation of the merit principle and lowering of standards in the recruitment of personnel into the public service which will serve as a way of recruiting and promoting less competent staff into the service resulting inevitably to poor performance.